Shinobi of the Digital Hazard
by Resurrection of the Forgotten
Summary: After his battle with Madara Naruto finds himself in strange place surronded by four Dragons who ask for his help in saving two different worlds but not before recieveing a power that could destroy both worlds from one of them.First story & summary stinks
1. Meetings and a New Adventure Begins

**AN: Here it is as promised the first chapter of Shinobi of the Digital Hazard. Now I would like to remind everyone that this is my first story so don't expect too much from me.**

**Disclaimer I do ****NOT ****own Naruto or Digimon if I did I wouldn't be writing this on Fanfiction I'd be trying to find some way, as bad as it's probably going to be, to get it shown on TV and or the internet. I mean how cool would it be if half the stuff on this site was actually aired for people to see. **

Meetings and a New Adventure Begins

'_Thinking'_

"Speaking"

"**You'll see"**

**(Author Notes)**

_'What's going on? Where am I?'_ were the first thoughts of one Naruto Uzumaki as he found himself in a place that was completely white which never seemed to end with the occasional one or zero appearing around him **(AN: Where the Digidestined showed up when Apocalymon made them fall apart)**. _'The last thing I remember was hitting Madara with the Tailed Beast Blast before everything went black,'_ sigh _'probably died because I ran out of chakra from that last attack. At least I was able to take that teme down with me. But what am I supposed do now! Do they even have ramen in heaven!'_ For those who knew Naruto not having any more ramen would like being in hell for the rest of his life, well afterlife in this case.

Still looking around Naruto wasn't sure if it was heaven wasn't heaven supposed to have clouds and angels flying around not an endless sea of white. _'Maybe I'm in some sort of genjutsu which would mean Madara is alive and the world is most likely doomed to that moon eye plan of his.' _Then again it wouldn't surprise him if he ended in some kind of limbo because of the fox if he did die; it had already ruined most of his life why would it be any different in his afterlife even if it was gone. During some point of his training with Bee the shiki fuujin finished its job of taking the last of the Kyuubi's chakra and converting it so Naruto could use. As a result he essentially became the new Kyuubi, though according to what the Hachibi had said he still lacked the control necessary to use all of Kyuubi's power to its full extent. But besides that he was now considered the strongest of the bijuu and all the foxes would see him as their king. That last part really caught Naruto off guard who would have thought that a demon fox would be the king nearly a god to all the other foxes of the world. As a side effect of taking the Kyuubi's chakra his appearance also changed and thankfully nothing too drastic like a tail or ears thankfully. His hair gained some red streaks and his pupils were more like they were when usually used the Kyuubi's chakra.

Finally voicing out his thoughts after nothing happening for a few minutes Naruto said, "WHERE THE HELL AM I!" well said isn't quit the word to use here, no one ever said Naruto was patient and to be kept waiting with nothing to do but watch numbers float by really annoyed him.

And just like that as if summoned by some godly other worldly being four dragons appeared around him surrounding him from all four sides each one having a primary color of either gold, red, pink, or blue. Suddenly the idea of being by him didn't seem so bad. These things were huge he doubted he could take all four of them on at once without using Kyuubi's chakra and it also didn't help that he still felt like he was running on empty from his fight with Madara. _'I've already have had one reptile try and eat me I don't need four more giving it a shot!'_

Seeing the boy's nervousness the dragon right in from of Naruto decided to speak in order to calm the boy down, no reason to give the kid a heart attack, and explain his reason for being here.

"Calm yourself young Uzumaki we wish you no harm." The gold dragon spoke his, at least it sounded like it was that of a guy, Naruto wasn't sure with these cases it's hard to tell sometimes, voice firm and confident without the arrogance many had, the voice one would expect from a true leader. "We have brought you here because we are in need of your help to save our world and that of the human world."

Now slightly calmer with the situation but still ready to run if the need presented itself Naruto spoke to the dragon in front of him getting the most important questions out of the way first. "Who or what are you four? And what do you want from me?" Being cautious seeing as he was surrounded for all four sides Naruto kept his senses on high alert in case one of the three decided to attack while he spoke to the dragon in front of him. "And where am I?" he added at the end who knows maybe he could figure out a way out of this boring place.

"I suppose you do deserve an explanation on what's going on before we get down to business, don't you?" the dragon asked though the question seemed to be targeted more to himself then to Naruto. "Very well for things first I believe introductions are in order I am Goldramon. To your right is Azulongmon. To your left we have Magnadramon and finally the one behind you is Megidramon. We are known as The Four Great Dragons by the beings of our world and we are digimon" (**AN: I'm not going to describe them most already know what they look like and for those who don't look it up**.)

As they were being introduced Naruto turned to each one getting a nod from the first two which he returned but it wasn't until he turned to the last one, Megidramon, did he take a good look at him and how demonic the red dragon looked he was definitely someone he didn't want to fight. Not to mention that his eyes were exactly like that of Kyuubi's that alone almost made Naruto flinch, almost wouldn't be good to show any sign of weakness in front of any of them.

Turning back to Goldramon he decided he should introduced himself even if it seemed that they already knew who he was after all its common courtesy to give your name to those you just meet, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki" he said giving a slight bow before straitening himself back out. Raising an eyebrow in curiosity as something just registered Naruto asked, "Digimon?" he had traveled all over the Elemental Nations when he was training with Jiraiya for those two and a half years and he had never heard that word before.

Instead of Goldramon answering it was Azulongmon who decided would explain a few things to the young ninja. "Digimon also known as Digital Monsters are being that exist in a world that is parallel to that of the human world. How we came to be is difficult to understand and explain and we aren't too sure ourselves." Seeing questioning look Azulongmon decided he would try to explain "As we understand it the digital world is split into four quadrants each one being looked over by a Digimon known as a sovereign myself being one of them with each Digital world being connected to an alternate human world each kept separated from the other by a wall that's almost impossible to get around but still allows a minimum interaction between the worlds. For instance the quadrant I watch over while connected to the other three is also separate at the same time. The lives of those who exist in my quadrant of the Digital world and the human world are only a fictional show in the world of a fellow sovereign, Zhuqiaomon." Azulongmon paused there for a moment to allow all this information to sink in.

Naruto for the most part barely understood what was said but figured that there was more than one human world each one having its own Digital world that was connected to one another without the human worlds knowing the existence of the other human worlds. _'His voice is sort of nostalgic it's similar to that of the old man it's exactly like how I imagined a grandfathers voice should sound like.' _Shaking those thoughts out of his head Naruto decided to try and focus on the issue at hand. _'This is seriously going to give me a monster headache. He was right this is complicated. I could use some sake… Uh! Great first Pervy Sage was corrupting me with his research and now Tsunade-bachan is getting to me to.' _With his those final thoughts pounding in his head Naruto rubbed his temples in hope of striving off the impeding headache if only momentarily. Feeling that he was ready to continue with the explanation and hopefully get more of his questions answered Naruto nodded towards Azulongmon to show he was ready to hear the rest of the story behind the creation of Digimon and the Digital world.

Seeing how Naruto was ready to hear the rest of this little lesson Azulongmon continued where he left off. "Because of the multiple Digital worlds and multiple human worlds how we came to be with one we existed since the beginning of the digital and other electronic devices were created. While in another Digital life did not exist until human beings created us so as you can see it's difficult to determine when Digimon were first born."

'_Ok so they've told me what they are but not why I'm here, what they want with me and how did they know my name to begin with?' _With that in mind Naruto decided to continue and see what else they would tell him concerning his reason for being where ever here is. "Ok you told me what you are but why I am I here? Is this place the Digital world?"

This time the response he was waiting for came from his left. "No child this place is a sort of limbo between worlds between realities. And the reason you're here is as Goldramon said, we need your help to save your world and that of the human world." It was Magnadramon who responded sounding like caring and loving mother explaining a child's simple question. When Magnadramon spoke Naruto could feel the last of his nervousness and hesitation to what was going on leave him, her voice was just so soothing it was hard for him not to calm down.

"What is it you want me to do exactly? And you still haven't answered me on how I got here!" Naruto asked and exclaimed slightly frustrated for not being able to get all the answers he needed.

At this point Goldramon he would resume with the explanation they did still have much to discuss and while time passed differently here it did still pass. "The reason for your being here young Uzumaki is due an unforeseen consequence of your fight with Madara Uchiha. When your final attack, the Tailed Beast Blast, connected with him the chakra from Kyuubi and the residue chakra on Madara from the bijuu he had already captured reacted with one another opening a rift sucking you into it just as you passed out due to chakra exhaustion. Normally anything within a rift would be instantly destroyed. It was only due to the combined effort of the four of us, that we were able to bring you into this plain of existence. Now the reason for us doing this is because we have watched you for a major part of your life young Uzumaki. Just like there is a connection between the human worlds connected to the four quadrants of the Digital world so does a connection exist to your world because of the electronic devices that can be found there. But because there is so little technology in your world, the connection is not strong enough for anything on this side to travel to your world." After saying that Goldramon paused again waiting for this information to sink in and what it meant to Naruto.

Naruto couldn't help but frown at Goldramon's words; basically he was saying that he was trapped in this reality. _'While I can probably try summoning a toad so I can be reversed summoned the chance that will not work will mean I would have trapped someone else here with me and I can't risk that.' _Letting out a sigh Naruto accepted that he probably wouldn't be going home with a great deal of reluctance but what could he do if it took the combined chakra of all the bijuu then he doubted he would be able to do it again. _'But if this new world needs my help I can't turn my back on them besides what kind of Hokage would let anyone suffer when they could do something to stop it' _With those final thoughts Naruto gained a determined look in his eyes that Goldramon instantly knew that no matter what happened from this point forward it wouldn't deter Naruto from doing what he felt was right.

Goldramon couldn't help the smile that graced his, let's go with face, face as he saw Naruto's determination. _'The boy would probably go and fight the enemy by himself right now if he could. We chose right by intrusting the safety of our worlds to you Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze.' _All throughout his life Naruto faced down any challenge that came his way without hesitation never letting the sadness he experienced in his childhood hold him back and now didn't seem to be any different.

His mental musing coming to an end Goldramon thought it best to continue. "The reason we chose you young Uzumaki is because of your never ending desire to protect."

"Your unwavering will and determination"

"Your loyalty to those you love and consider family"

"**Your almost godly bakaness"**

When Naruto heard he couldn't help but jump since it came from behind him and since Megidramon hadn't spoken since they arrived he wasn't expecting it either. Not to mention that Megidramon's voice so dark that it reminded him when the Kyuubi would speak to him, well berate him; it carried this suppressed hatred for all things around him and the desire for destruction.

"Ah Megidramon finally decided to join in on our conversation" asked Goldramon though it seemed more like a statement than an actual question.

Naruto could see that the comment just irritated Megidramon more than what he already was. **"Just get on with it Goldramon my patience is running thin." **Megidramon growled out. He didn't have time to waste, for a few days now he could feel something changing within himself concerning the Digital Hazard and while this was important it meant nothing in the end if the Digital Hazard destroyed the Digital world on its own. While he knew what it was, or at least a rough idea, there was little he could actually do but this boy might be able to do something which is the only reason he actually came to this 'meeting' with the other Great Dragons.

Goldramon took careful note of his friend, something many had a hard time believing, and could tell something had gained his concern but he had not mentioned anything to him so most likely he already had a solution to this problem. Still it would be best to finish this so his friend could deal with what concerned him. The fact that it had gained his concern was enough cause for worry seeing as Megidramon wasn't the type to be worried about things and the few things that did worry him, mostly dealing with the hazard, were usually of great importance.

For their part Azulongmon and Magnadramon also could tell that Megidramon was bothered by something sure they weren't as close as to him as Goldramon was but they have still spent a lot of time with one another so they could tell something was up what that was they had no idea. Naruto decided to remain silent if it concerned him he was sure one of them would explain it to him.

Nodding his head Goldramon decided it was time to finish his explanation. "Now the reason we need your help is that Southern quadrant of the Digital world is in danger of being destroyed. While normally a group of humans are chosen, also known as Digidestined, that are partnered with digimon to defend their world and the Digital world we have sensed threat to the world that they alone will not be able to handle. Normally this isn't the case as each quadrant of the Digital world faces some sort of struggle that the Digidestined is able to put to an end before it's too late. But there is a danger even we don't fully understand yet but we believe you can turn the tide of this upcoming battle. As such we would like to ask for your help, if you agree we will send you to the human world because of how the human world works you will need papers to prove who you are and also be enrolled into the school were we believe that the Digidestined attend. Because the world is ruled mostly by technology we can easily have this both things done even to the point that no matter how hard someone looking into your past tries to prove the papers are fake it'll be impossible."

Pausing for a second to make sure Naruto was following him and getting a nod in return he continued. "Now normally the a Digidestined only has one partner but because of the danger that's coming we decided to bend the rules and give you two partners, both have been chosen and wait for on the other side. This is your choice Naruto you don't have to fight anymore we will still send you to the human world with your identity set and live the life you want we will not force you into anything." With that he left the choice up to Naruto on what his future would be.

But it wasn't even a minute after he said this did Goldramon now Naruto answer. Still there for all to see shining brightly in his eyes was his determination and a smile came to his face one that spoke of the excitement he felt at the prospect of a new adventure unfolding before him.

"Bring it on there is no way I'm just going to sit back and watch as the world is put in danger especially if I can do something about it. So when do I leave and where exactly am I going you haven't mentioned that?" Naruto was practically bouncing around now reminding the Four Great Dragons of when they watched him when he was just a young child.

Azulongmon decided to continue from this point seeing as he would have to explain a matter concerning Zhuqiaomon and The Catalyst. "We are sending you to the city of Shinjuku in the country of Japan. Now I have some things that you must be aware of before we can send you off. Fist even though Zhuqiaomon is the sovereign of the southern quadrant of the Digital world he hates humans because he believes they will try to destroy the Digital world and the digimon, as such he will not hesitate to destroy the human world given the chance not understanding how this will affect the balance that has been created between the worlds. Second is that he planned to use the power of a Digimon artifact called The Catalyst also known as the Light of Digivolution which has the power to allow digimon to digivolve and become stronger. Because of this I've had the catalyst turned into a digimon now called Calumon and sent it to the human world. I ask that you watch over him as he is now Calumon has the mindset of a young child and could stumble into a dangerous situation if not careful and I'm sure Zhuqiaomon will go out of his way to capture him to further his plans." Seeing that Azulongmon finished Goldramon once again decided to take control of the discussion.

"We will send you immediately then." Just then a thought occurred to Goldramon that he along with the rest seemed to have over looked. "But first we have to fix the problem of your clothes." At the mention of clothes Naruto looked down on at his body half expecting to be naked, I mean that sort of thing happens in this sort of case right? But to his relief he found himself fully clothed in his normal clothes with them not even having the slightest bit of damage which was weird considering his fight with Madara should have left them as little more than rags. **(AN: He's wearing his shippuden outfit.)**

"What? Why?" Naruto like his clothes he didn't see any reason to change them if they were in perfect condition.

Sigh in preparation for what was sure to be a long and exhausting argument about the need for new clothes that didn't draw so much attention Goldramon prepared to explain his reasoning only to be saved the headache by Magnadramon. He was thankful really he was if anyone could convince Naruto to change his clothes it would be Magnadramon, she had a way of having people and digimon see things for what they were without the usual yelling that seemed to come with every argument. She was calm collected and never let her anger or annoyance with a situation cloud her judgment or sense of reasoning.

"Now, now Naruto while your clothes are very nice they will draw to much attention. Not only does the color orange stand out by its self, but your clothes would be considered very outdated by the people of Shinjuku so you will need something less eye catching. You can keep your jacket to wear as a reminder of home along with your headband but for the most part it would help you in the long run to have something a little more modern." Magnadramon explained her voice soothing and calm with it still possessing that trait every mother seemed to have when speaking to their child. Really there was no way Naruto could deny her words and any arguments he had died away at the sound of her voice, so with a reluctant nod of his head Naruto accepted.

Seeing Naruto's acceptance Goldramon lifted his left hand up as data started to surround it. To Naruto it seemed to be a swirling ball of light similar to his rasengan with the only difference being the data particles that surrounded it. "Now don't worry young Naruto this won't hurt at the most you'll feel a slight tingle." He said before he threw the data sphere at Naruto.

For Naruto staying still became suddenly difficult with his instincts telling him to dodge the ball of data that was heading his way but he would trust Goldramon to keep his word on this not hurting before he was consumed in a bright light that surrounded him completely. When the light finally faded three of the Four Great Dragons were witness to the change in Naruto's outfit. Naruto now wore a regular white shirt that was slightly tight over his body but not uncomfortable with loose black jeans and a pair of black steel toed boots. He was now wearing his head band around his neck letting his hair fall down making him look more like his father than before along with a replica of the necklace he won from Tsunade all those years ago. He was also now wearing a new jacket that was the color was a darker shade of orange that wouldn't draw attention to him with the symbol for Anbu located on both his shoulders in black along with the seal design of the Shiki Fuujin on his back. The bottom part of the jacket was also colored in black with the final detail being the hood that he currently had on. Around his waist he wore to belts that crossed each other forming an 'x' his digivice was located on his left side clipped to the belt the color scheme was only slightly different from the norm, not that Naruto knew that, instead of it being mostly white with a specific color his was black with orange ring, buttons, and strap. **(AN: Like Ryo's digivice.)** On his right side there was an empty card holder **(AN: Like the one Rika has).**

When Naruto pulled down the hood to take a look at himself he had to admit the new clothes weren't half bad, Goldramon even let him wear orange if only a different shade of it but still orange. When he found his Digivice he was about to ask what thing was before he was answered by Azulongmon.

"The device you currently hold in your hand is known as a Digivice and it is what marks you as a Digidestined and the physical representation for the bond that now exists between you and your digimon partners. It will also allow your digimon to digivolve when the time comes. Something else you should be made aware of is, as I mentioned before, that while no one knows that we really do exist are a card game and TV show based on the events that happened in the eastern quadrant, the quadrant I rule over, as such the cards will allow your digimon to grow stronger and or gain new abilities when you slash a card through the slit in the device which acts as a scanner that will last for a certain amount of time." Azulongmon decided to only explain the basics so Naruto could discover the other uses the digivice had on his own.

Nodding his head in understanding Naruto clipped the digivice back on to his belt. _'Well that explains the empty card holster I'll probably have to buy some cards when I get to this Shinjuku place which raises the question.' _"What am I going to do about money and a place to live?" He didn't have anything on him and even if he did he doubted that it would be the correct currency.

"Good question Naruto and we have a solution to both." Magnadramon answered.

"You do?" Naruto questioned this seemed convenient of course he wasn't going to complain this saved him the trouble of figuring it out later, maybe. He shouldn't assume things.

Magnadramon gave Naruto a smile or at least a dragon's equivalent to a smile before answering. "Yes we do. We already have an apartment set up for you and your partners to live in. It's not anything fancy but definitely better than most would expect and it's fully furnished so the only thing you'll need to buy for yourself are any extra clothes and food. As for money we will give a certain amount a month to take care of any needs you may have, think of it as an allowance. We have also set it up so the bills and rent will automatically be paid for, so you don't need to concern yourself with that." Still seeing a questioning look on Naruto's face Magnadramon guessed what Naruto was about to ask. "Just because we are digital beings from a different world doesn't mean we don't make sure that we have sources available in the human world if the need ever arose." Nodding his head once in understanding Naruto prepared himself to begin his journey now that all his questions had been answered.

"Very well I will no-"Goldramon began before he was cut off.

"**Hold on Goldramon I have something to discuss with the child before we send him off and I'd prefer to do it in private if you don't mind."** Megidramon called out as his red eyes watched Naruto as the blond teen turned to face the demonic dragon. **"Don't worry I will send the boy off as soon as I'm done speaking with him". **He finished as he shifted his sight to Goldramon, Azulongmon, and Magnadramon. The three nodding their acceptance in the matter it wasn't often Megidramon decided to speak to someone directly, most of the time they were together he never spoke up on a matter leaving the decisions up to Goldramon.

"Take care young Digidestined till we meet again", "So long Naruto take care of yourself", "Thank you once again young Uzumaki we owe you a great debt we might never be able to repay, goodbye." With the farewells from Azulongmon, Magnadramon, and Goldramon respectively they departed to allow Megidramon and Naruto to have their privacy.

For a few tense seconds Naruto and Megidramon simply stared at one another neither saying a word. Finally with a deep sigh Megidramon decided to get this over with, **"The reason I have to speak to you in private concerns this mark on my chest. It's known as the Digital Hazard and it's a virus with the potential to destroy the entire Digital world. For the past few days I have sensed a change in the Hazard and have come to the conclusion that someone has tapped into its power, most likely without knowing it, and if this is true it might cause complications in your adventure."** Taking a pause to gather his thoughts before continuing he look towards Naruto to make sure he was following, he did not want to repeat himself. **"It has been most likely done by one of the other Tamers, what the Digidestined will be known as, as a result should the tamer lose control of his anger he could force his digimon to digivolve into another Megidramon. The problem with this is that there, can only one true Megidramon, like their can only be one true Goldramon, as such the Megidramon the tamer will create will be nothing more than a mindless beast. At the same time the Digital Hazard will be at its most unstable within this second Megidramon, since it wouldn't be able to control it, which could if not kept in check destroy the Digital world." **Pausing once again to gauge Naruto reaction it did not surprise Megidramon when the former jinjuriki became slightly nervous at the prospect at having to fight a mindless dragon was something many did their best to avoid. **"Because of this I've decided to give a part of the Digital Hazard not enough to complicate things further but enough to make things slightly easier for you should the Tamer that has tapped into the Hazard's power lose control of himself, understand?" **Megidramon asked as he waited for Naruto response and most likely the questions that would follow.

When Megidramon spoke of a power that would most likely unleash itself when the Tamer came to the breaking point in controlling his anger he had flashbacks to the times he lost control of himself and the Kyuubi took control over his body. If things were similar to that kind of situation than Naruto could see why the Great dragon would be worried. With a heavy sigh Naruto began to ask a question he was sure Megidramon was expecting, _'Why can't things ever be simple?' _"What is it exactly that I will be able to do with this piece of the Hazard; I mean if it's so dangerous wouldn't even part of it be cause for more worry?"

Megidramon hummed or maybe it was a growl it was hard to tell as if in thought before answering, **"Normally you'd be right child but I will be placing limitations on the piece I will give you so you can't do anything beyond what I allow. As for what it will do, simply it will allow for data manipulation. What that means I will allow you to figure out later on in time, now prepare yourself because you will accept this gift I'm giving you."** With that said Megidramon extended his hand until one of his claws rested against Naruto's forehead before a dull ache seemed to spread all over Naruto's body as a light once again consumed him. When the light faded not much had changed most wouldn't notice right away but now on his left hand as if tattooed to his hand was the mark of the Digital Hazard.

"Ow. Any reason I have a sudden headache?" Naruto asked as he held his head with his right hand as he stared at his left where he was getting a tingling feeling only to notice the Hazard symbol now on his skin.

"**I do everything for a reason child. The reason behind your headache is that I uploaded some information about the world you're going to that the others seem to forgotten, this way you won't be scared out your mind by every little thing you come across and it should make adapting that much simpler." **Megidramon answered before collecting data to his hand similar to what Goldramon did before, before releasing it so it landed at Naruto's feet.

When Naruto saw the ball of data land at his feet he didn't know what to expect a pair of black fingerless gloves was definitely at the bottom of his list. Seeing the questioning look on Naruto's face along with the raised eyebrow Megidramon answered the unasked question.

**It would be best if no one knew about the Hazard, I won't delude myself into believing you'll be able to hide it forever but for the moment it would be best if less people knew about it." **Megidramon answered as he watched Naruto put on his new gloves. **"Now I'll be sending you on your way." **

"Huh? Wait, what about these partners of mine I still haven't even met them." Naruto asked expecting Megidramon to have forgotten about them.

"**I'll send them right after you. So long Naruto Uzumaki Shinobi of the Digital Hazard." **Was Megidramon only reply and before Naruto could get another word in a digital gate opened underneath him.

* * *

In a secret government building located in Shinjuku three people watch the monitors around them keeping an eye out for any digital activity. They were known as Hypnos and their job was that the 'digital threat' didn't become a threat and stayed secret to the public. They spent their time monitoring the web for any digimon that tries to cross over to the real world and put a stop to it before it happens.

"Sir, I'm picking up a reading it appears that a wild one is trying to bioemerge." One of the women said her eyes covered by some goggles with short brown hair as she tapped away at her keyboard. She and another woman were back to back in their seats that were suspended in midair as they tried to stop whatever was trying to bioemerge. "This one's data seems different from the rest though."

'Click'

"It doesn't matter a bug is a bug no matter how different it may look from the rest. Put a tracer on it and destroy it we can't let any of those abominations to come into the real world." A blond man answered his irritation with the situation clearly evident from the tone of his as he opened and closed the lighter in his hand.

"We can't something is interfering with the system we can't get a lock at this rate it's going to emerge and we won't even have a general idea of its location." The other women answered unlike her coworker her hair was long and had a slight reddish tint to it. Quickly typing away at her keyboard in the hopes of being able to do something they quickly came to realizations it would be impossible to stop this digimon from bioemergeing into the real world "It's about to bioemerge in 5… 4… 3…2…1 that's it has crossed over to the real world."

Scowling the blond haired man turned to prepare for when the digimon that just emerged to cause trouble so he could put a stop to it before it gets out of hand and delete the packet of data that dared come over to the human world and infest it like some disease. _'Soon enough no digimon will ever be able to cross into the real world I just need a little more time to finish Juggernaut. _

* * *

In another part of Shinjuku a digital field was just starting to dissipate when Naruto was picking himself up from his fall due to the surprise from the gate appearing underneath him. _'Damn that overgrown lizard with wings a little warning would have been nice.'_ His mental complaining done for the moment Naruto decided to take a look around. From what he could gather he was in a park and judging from the position of the sun around midday. _'This place doesn't seem so bad. And if the information I got from Megidramon is accurate my new apartment should be around here somewhere if I'm at the right park. I just have to wait for my partners to show up; I wonder how long that will take?' _Again as if some other worldly god heard his question a second digital field appeared just in front of him. When it cleared he could see his two digmon partners.

* * *

**AN: And I'll leave it at that for now. Like I said before this is my first Fanfic and first chapter so if doesn't live up to your expectations don't worry because I'm sure I'll get better with time and if not you all will just to deal with it. Not all chapters will be this long at least I think it's long and the story really begins in the next chapter I just had a lot to get out of the way here.**

**Remember to review I won't bother with flames but your opinions do matter to me and if someone has an idea to make this story better and I like it I'll figure out some way to add it to the story.**


	2. First Impressions

****

AN: Here is the second chapter of Shinobi of the Digital Hazard. For those who have been patiently waiting you'll finally get to see who Naruto's partner digimon are going to be.

**Naruto and the Tamers are all 15 or 16. Does anyone know how old Suzie and the other two are?**

**Disclaimer I don't own either Naruto or Digimon. **

* * *

First Impressions

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

"**Megidramon"**

**(AN)**

With the digital field clearing Naruto could make out the shapes of his two new partners. Really he didn't know what to expect Goldramon and the others had all been dragons though they didn't look anything like the other so he assumed every digimon would be different from the other. So when he had a clear view of the two new digimon he wasn't totally surprised by what he saw.

The first look something like similar to a lion cub. The differences being that this one was able to walk on two legs instead of four that came up to about his shins **(AN: He's about the same height as Impmon)**. He had what appeared to be wristbands on each of his hands with some sort of buckle that also appeared on his head. The next thing he took notice of was the flame that was over the buckle on his head and another one that appeared on his tail. The fur color was a red-orange, and on his chest he seemed to have extra fur and instead of the red-orange fur that covered most of his body it was yellow color.

The second digimon was considerably different from the first. This one seemed to walk on all four legs unlike his fellow digimon. His top half was orange while the bottom was a white cream color with three black toes on each leg. It had bat like ears that also allowed it to fly, which it was currently doing. If Naruto went by appearances alone this one would be the less impressive of the two. It was also the smaller of the two only coming about half the height of the other digimon.

While Naruto was checking them out the digimon were checking everything else. They knew they had an important mission but that didn't stop their curiosity of this new world from showing. All digimon dream of coming to real world when the Four Great Dragons asked for their assistance in saving their world and the real one they couldn't deny them, especially with the offer of coming to the real world and being partnered with their own human tamer. But they had time to get to know this world later, now they should get to know their tamer and the one the Great Dragons have put their faith in.

Seeing that he had his partners' attention he decided he should begin with introductions, "Okay since we'll be partners from today on we should introduce ourselves, my name is Naruto and you two are?" Naruto wasn't too sure what he was doing after all how many people have to deal with partnering with digital beings in order to save two worlds when they weren't part of either one to begin with.

The two digimon shared a glance before the lion decided to speak first "Names Coronamon it's nice to meet ya!" The way Coronamon spoke with such enthusiasm reminded Naruto of when he was younger before he had to deal with maniacs trying to kill him. "Hello my name is Patamon it's nice to meet you." Patamon's tone of speaking was more respectful but still friendly and light hearted.

Before Naruto could say anything else he heard a beeping coming from his D-arc, grabbing it from his belt he held it up as he watched a screen came up with a picture of Coronamon on it. _'Coronamon, Rookie level vaccine type his attacks are Corona Flame and Coro Knuckle hmmm those sound like very nasty attacks can't wait to see what they can do. Looks like Azulongmon left out a few things when he was explaining this thing, I wonder if…' _as he thought that Naruto pointed the D-arc from Coronamon to Patamon to see what would happen, _'… just like I thought, Patamon, Rookie as well a Data/Vaccine type, interesting, attacks are Boom bubble and Slamming attack. So this thing can also give me some information on different digimon that'll be helpful if we have to fight any later on but for now we should get out of here before someone finds us.' _Looking back to is newly meet partners Naruto began to speak "Ok we should probably leave before…" Naruto was cut of there when he heard someone coming in their direction and by the looks of it his partners can sense it to. With that in mind Naruto grabbed Patamon and Coronamon and hid himself how only a ninja can.

They only had to wait a few seconds before Naruto saw someone else enter the clearing where they just were. From what he could tell it was a girl about his age with red hair tied in up in a ponytail similar to how Iruka had his, with blond highlights. She wore a short sleeved white short with blue sleeves and broken heart on her chest. A regular pair of jeans with a couple of belts one around her waist the other her thigh, red wrist bands, what appeared to be red steel toed shoes, and finally a card holster and d-arc that was mostly white with blue ring, buttons, and strap.

'_She's a tamer huh? Let's see what I'll be working with. But by appearances she's a tomboy if I ever did see one.' _Naruto thought as he checked his fellow tamer out, you know for the mission's sake and nothing else. _'Yeah just for the mission, there's no other reason.'_

* * *

For one Rika Nonaka this was a good day, maybe even a great one. It had been a couple of months since she won the Digimon card game tournament, got her D-arc, and finally and definitely the most important part was Renamon becoming her digimon partner. That was also where all the good things came to an end. Since then she's had Renamon fight all the digimon that they came across and load their data so she could get stronger and digivolve. But for some reason Renamon had yet to digivolve. This was something Rika wouldn't accept she was the best as such she expected the best out of her partner, so when to digital fields appeared one right after the other and in the same location she saw it as the perfect opportunity for Renamon to finally digivolve.

Pulling out her D-arc Rika looked around searching for the two digimon. "What? Where are they?"Looking down at her D-arc in hopes it would give her answers to her questions all she got was a blank screen. "Useless piece of junk it's totally worthless, Renamon!" With that a tall yellow fox appeared behind Rika its fur was mostly yellow with the exception being what would normally amount to the underside of most foxes along with the tips of her ears, tail, hands, and feet they were all white. She had purple lighting marks under her eyes and what appeared like the yin yang symbol, in Naruto's opinion two tomes of the Sharingan, in purple on her thighs. She also wore purple armguards with the Taoist taijitu symbol on them.

Renamon seemed slightly distracted the closer they got to this area the more uneasy she felt, some part of her just felt strange she really couldn't describe it and until she knew exactly knew what it was she didn't know how to react, but not enough were she couldn't respond to her partners call "Yes Rika?" she questioned although she could easily guess what her partner would ask considering the lack of an opponent.

Without turning around to even look at Renamon Rika responded. "Look around this area there should be a digimon hiding nearby if this stupid thing lead us here." Glaring at the device she currently had clutched in her hand. Normally it wouldn't have taken Rika telling her to start searching for the digimon but with that strange presence still in the area there was nothing she wanted to do more than leave as soon as possible.

"Rika we should leave here." Already knowing this would upset Rika she continued hoping her explanation would be enough reason to get Rika to leave. "There is a presence here that unsettles me; I've never felt anything like it before I can't even explain it I just know what my instincts are telling me and that is to watch where I step while we're here. Please Rika we should leave here." Renamon pleaded with her partner she wasn't sure how she would react if the person behind this presence made itself known to her.

For a second it actually looked like Rika was going to listen to what her partner was going to say is for she scoffed and frowned in her partner's direction. "Stop being so paranoid Renamon whatever you're sensing is probably one of the digimon and if it's resorting to such pathetic tricks then it's already weak so quit wasting time and find it." By the tone of her voice Renamon knew her partner was already annoyed with her and wouldn't take long for Rika to lose her temper so she began to search for the digimon that came through.

'_But this feeling isn't like any I've ever had to any digimon before.'_ With these final thoughts Renamon began her search hopefully being able to find at least one of the digimon to appease her partner.

* * *

Having seen the interaction between tame and digimon Naruto couldn't help but give a mental sigh, _'This girl, Rika, will be trouble. She doesn't listen to her partner even though she gave her, her reasons for wanting to leave here. If one isn't sure about the situation then they should be cautious, heh, if anyone from back home heard me thinking this they would think the world is coming to an end.' _Shifting his line of sight from Rika to Renamon Naruto continued his thoughts. _'What's really interesting is her partner's reaction. Hmm I guess even in another world I'll be seen as the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the king of all kitsune even the digital ones.'_

"Naruto." Turning toward Patamon Naruto held a questioning look as he stared at the small orange digimon. "Don't you think we should leave before she finds us and makes us fight her?" Looking back toward Renamon Naruto couldn't help but agree, they just became a team there was time to fight later one when they were more comfortable with one another. So with a nod of his head Naruto grabbed the two digimon and disappeared from the area.

* * *

After a few minutes of searching the area for the two digimon that crossed over Renamon wasn't able to find them even the presence had disappeared a while ago. Turning to her partner Renamon gave her the news of her not finding any digimon in the area though the digital field disappearing had probably clued her in. "I can't find any digimon here Rika and that presence I felt is gone as well." She could this instantly pissed off her tamer but really what could she do, though she would admit, if only to herself that she was sort of relieved the presence had disappeared she still had no clue what it was or what it meant. "We should probably leave before anyone comes through here."

"Fine let's go. But start looking for those digimon and when you find them delete them and load their data, Renamon if we're going to be the best we need to beat as many digimon as possible and I won't accept anything less, got it?" Rika said not even looking at her partner as she stared to walk away. _'I won't accept anything but the best Renamon. These two new digimon made a fool of us, of me, and I won't allow that to happen ever again, when you've loaded their data you will digivolve.'_

Renamon nodded her head at her partner's command as she watched her walked away before following her emotions shifting between relief and disappointment, relief that whatever was here had left and disappointment at her own apparent weakness, _'I won't fail you again Rika, I promise.' _With that final thought Renamon shifted out of sight to begin her search. But before Rika was able to get out of there her cell phone rang.

"Hello who is this? Mom? What, no; listen mom I'm not going to wear a dress… because it's stupid. I'm not going to a photo shoot either… Goodbye mom. No mom bye. I'm hanging up now." Hanging up her cell phone Rika started to walk off again her left eyebrow twitch from her barely restrained fury. _'There is no way in hell! I'm going a stupid photo shoot again.' _With that Rika made her way home scarring any man, woman, or child that crossed her path.

* * *

Appearing again a good distance away Naruto, Patamon, and Coronamon came to a new area of the park. Putting down his partner digimon Naruto took a quick look around to make sure no one was in the area before he turned to face them. "Ok now that we meet one of our future partners we should probably make our way to our new home." Pausing for a second Naruto realized something. "Do either of you know where that is?"

"We just got here, how are supposed to know?"

"Sorry Naruto no."

Was Naruto's response from Coronamon and Patamon respectively. Hanging his head Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. _'How are we supposed to get to this apartment when we don't even know where it is?'_ As if to answer his question Naruto's D-arc started to beep again but instead of the screen with his digimons' stats he got what appeared to be a compass/arrow pointing to what he assumed to be the location his and his partners new home. _'Well can't hurt to try not like we have an idea where this place is.' _"Alright you two come here and I'll take us there."

Coronamon looked at Naruto like he just said the stupidest thing ever and had no problem voice it. "Why should we it's not like we can't walk on our own or get there faster than you can anyway?" And it was true what human could possibly be faster than a digimon. _'What kind of partner did the Great Dragons give us?'_

Looking down toward one of his partners Naruto answered his question like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Maybe because people aren't used to seeing real life digimon walking down the street and I seriously doubt your faster than me Coronamon. Now come on we shouldn't waste time." Turning away to follow the direction the compass was pointing him Naruto began to walk forward until he heard Coronamon behind him.

Crossing his arms over his chest Coronamon turned away from where Naruto was before he decided to speak. "As if any human; could actually be faster or stronger than a digimon." Coronamon wasn't arrogant or prideful he just knew that some things were impossible and while he understood that his partner might be stronger than the average human that didn't mean that he could possibly compete with him or any digimon for that matter, it just how things were. He will have to set his partner straight so he didn't do anything to hurt himself.

Giving a mental sigh Naruto turned back to his partner, _'Looks like Goldramon and the others didn't explain what I can do guess I'll have to show him and who knows this could be fun.'_ "Look Coronamon I'm stronger and faster than you would think." Seeing his partners skeptical look he decided on something that should convince him even if only temporarily. "Alright how about this lets have a little race." Looking around he pointed towards a tree a good distance away from their location. "The first one to that tree is the winner and that'll settle which one of us is faster agreed."

Seeing which tree his partner was pointing to Coronamon could easily determine that he would win this race. _'This should work I'll prove my point and Naruto won't end up hurting himself later on.'_ Nodding his head in agreement Coronamon prepared himself for what he believed to be an easy win.

"Alright then," turning to his other partner Naruto asked, "Patamon do you mind starting this race for us."

"I don't mind at all Naruto." Flying in between his tamer and fellow digimon Patamon made sure that both of them were ready to start. "Ready… Set… Go!" Taking off as soon as the word was said Coronamon didn't spare a glance at his tamer, while he knew that Naruto couldn't possibly keep up with him the Great Dragons did say he was stronger than the average human so Coronamon wasn't going to underestimate him who knows how many people have lost because they have underestimated their opponent.

Reaching the tree Coronamon placed his hand on the tree as the official ending to the race. "Ha… told you… you… wouldn't be able… to keep up" Panting for breath Coronamon had his eyes closed with a massive grin on his face as he faced the direction he assumed his tamer was. With his win this should convince Naruto not to try and match any digimon, if he couldn't keep up with a rookie what hope did he have against the stronger digimon.

"Um… Coronamon?"

With his eyes still closed he answered, "Yeah Patamon?" Coronamon heard a sigh come from his fellow digimon before he was told to look up at the tree. When he turned his sight to the tree what he saw was something completely unexpected, there was Naruto lying on one of the branches looking like he was asleep if the light snores he heard coming from him were any indication. "WHEN DID YOU GET HERE?" seeming to have woken him up Naruto began to rub his eyes as if to get the sleep out of them.

Looking down at his partner digimon Naruto answered in a lazy voice, "Oh hey (yawn) Coronamon when did you get here?"

Annoyed with his partners for not answering his question he decided to ignore his "Me? How did you get up _**there?**_"

"I climbed" "When?" "When I got here" "And when did you get here?" "Before you did." Now that took Coronamon by surprise "How? When did you pass me?" "For the first part I ran of course that's the whole purpose of a race. As for the second I didn't." Frustrated at his answer Coronamon couldn't help the irradiation that slipped into his voice. "If you didn't pass me then how did you get here before me? Unless…" _'No it he couldn't be that fast. Could he?'_

Now with a smirk on his face as he saw the realization of what happened appear on Coronamon's face Naruto answered his partner's question. "I didn't pass you because I was never behind you Coronamon, right Patamon?" Both tamer and digimon turned to the final member of the group.

With a simple nod of his head Patamon affectively shattered all thoughts of Naruto's win being some sort of mistake. "Hai one second Naruto was there the second he was gone and when I looked at the tree he was already lying down, it was incredible I've never seen anyone move that fast." Having Patamon's confirmation Coronamon hung his head in defeat having no choice but to accept that Naruto was indeed faster than he was.

With his fox grin now firmly on his face Naruto decided they had wasted enough time, even if the look on Coronamon's face when he realized he had beaten him to the tree was priceless. "Ok now that we've established who is the fastest how about we get on with finding our new home." With that Naruto grabbed both his digimon partners before they could respond and blurred out of existence.

* * *

A few minutes later Naruto reappeared in front of what was to be his apartment. It didn't take long to find it, it turned out they were dropped off in a location close to it and with Naruto speed they found it soon after with the people they passed by only seeing a different shades of an orange blur. The apartment was located in a decent part of the city and like Magnadramon said it appeared to be fully furnished. The living room had the comfiest couches Naruto had ever seen a coffee table and a plasma screen TV mounted onto the wall. The kitchen had all the cooking utensils Naruto could ever need, he wasn't a gourmet chef but he did know how to cook something besides ramen, and some he didn't even know how to work. Again like Magnadramon said he would have to go out and buy groceries seeing as the refrigerator was currently empty. The apartment also had a couple of guestrooms, one which Patamon and Coronamon would most likely share, a bathroom located down the hall from them and finally the master bedroom. The room didn't have much; a king sized bed, a nightstand on both sides of the bed, a dresser and a bedroom cabinet. The room had a closet, which was empty, and another plasma TV on the dresser but what really caught Naruto's attention was what was on the bed. There he found his orange and black jacket along with his ninja gear, he didn't notice until now that he didn't have them but that also brought to mind what he would once he ran out. But it was what was next to his stuff that caught Naruto's attention; there on his bed was a blood red laptop notebook more specifically the mostly black screen with the red Digital Hazard symbol on it.

"**Uzumaki"**

There was that voice again, the only one that could ever possibly match Kyuubi's in pure hatred and malevolence even when they weren't trying, it again caused Naruto to jump partly from the voice itself and the other being from the surprise itself. Attentively Naruto came closer to the laptop to make sure it was from it that he heard the voice and hesitatingly asked, "Megidramon?"

A dark chuckle could be heard coming from the laptop most likely do to Naruto's reaction before Megidramon continued, **"Nice to see you where able to make it here Uzumaki. Now before you ask any questions I have a few things to say. First of all the card next to the laptop is what you will use to pay** **for anything you buy until you have some actual money." **Seeing that Naruto had picked up the card and placed it in his pocket he continued, **"Keep it safe because we won't be giving you another. Second you begin school tomorrow morning, you'll have to buy any supplies necessary when you go out for groceries. Lastly and most importantly is this laptop." **Seeing Naruto's questioning look Megidramon explained, **"Not only does this laptop have a database for all known digimon, it will also help you develop your control over the data manipulation of the Digital Hazard. Also to help with your training the laptop will be able to generate its own digital field that's untraceable to anyone in the human world, even your fellow tamers, and any damage you create, and you will, will be repaired instantly once the digital field falls. Now while it can't be tracked down that doesn't mean it can't be found by anyone who happens to come across it so find a place no one will stumble upon it by accident. Now any questions?"**

Taking a few seconds to absorb all the new information Naruto could see the value in the digital field, _'With that I could continue my training and begin Coronamon and Patamon's training as well. And with the digital field repairing any damage done we won't have to worry about any destructive attack. But…' _"Will we have to take the laptop with us to set up the field?"

"**You don't have to, you can just program the area where you want the field to be set up and head to that area afterwards you can either dissipate the digital field using the laptop or, what I recommend, use the Digital Hazard to dissipate it on the spot."** Megidramon responded.

'_That's good to know, it wouldn't have done us any good to be able to use stronger attacks if we had to worry about that thing getting caught in the crossfire.' _Naruto thought before another question came to mind. "What would happen if one of attacks heads toward the edge of the digital field?"

With another dark chuckle coming from Megidramon he responded to Naruto's question. **"Good Uzumaki you're actually thinking I half expected you to ask pointless questions." **Seeing the tick mark appear on Naruto's head Megidramon answered his question. **"Should one of your Justus or one of your partners' attack head toward the edge of the digital field it would be dispelled before it could make it to the outside, in the case of your kunai, they would react as if they hit a wall."**

Nodding his head at the information Naruto noticed this actually helped him with the question he had earlier. "What do I do once I've used up all the ninja gear I have with me, I mean I doubt I can find a place here that I can make kunai, shuriken, and even less likely exploding tags?" It was a valid question kunai and shuriken only last so long and he didn't have any way to make more tags with him.

Megidramon hummed a bit but to anyone listening it would sound more like a growl before he answered Naruto, **"That is a good question which I don't have an answer to, I'll speak to the others and see what we can do."** Seeing that, that was all he was going to get from Megidramon Naruto decided to ask his final question.

"So how am I supposed to find this school you all signed me up for?"

"**Not really important to the situation at hand Uzumaki, but all the information you need will be on the laptop." **With the last of his questions answered Naruto thanked Megidramon before the Great Dragon left to do whatever it is dragons do when they have free time. With his conversation with Megidramon over Naruto realized something or more like some ones were missing. _'Where are Coronamon and Patamon you'd think they would be here listening in on the conversation?' _With this thought Naruto went throughout the apartment in search of his digital partners. When he found them they were in front of the TV watching some program that look like it just started.

"Hey guys you just missed out on an important meeting." Naruto waited for a few seconds to see what their response would be but when they didn't even look at him he tried again. "Patamon? Coronamon? Anyone in there?" Again nothing so with a heavy sigh, Naruto walked over to the TV and turned it off getting an instant, "Hey we were watching that!" from both his partners.

"Ah! Good you returned to the land of the living now seeing as you two were doing something so important…" Both digimon could easily hear the sarcasm in Naruto's last sentence but didn't care much they were watching an awesome show. "I'll be going out to get the groceries for tonight's dinner and a few school supplies so while I'm out stay here and don't yourselves in trouble, understand?" All he got was a "Yeah, yeah get out of the way" from Coronamon before he turned the TV back on and a "Hai Naruto." From Patamon but it sounded like it came without Patamon even realizing he was talking seeing as it lacked any real feeling.

'_Well it's something.'_ With that Naruto walked out of his apartment in search for some food.

* * *

While he was out Naruto decided to take some time and explore the city and where everything was, in other words he was lost. _'I'm not lost, I'm not lost, I'm- Oh who am I kidding I'm totally lost, damn it!' _While he could still find his way home seeing as he had his D-arc with him going back would totally defeat the purpose of going out in the first place. _'Ok stay calm don't let this bother you, remember Naruto your awesome kickass ninja you can find your way around a city, right?'_ It was during Naruto's mental panic that an elderly woman that noticed Naruto's distress and decided to approach him to see if she could.

"Excuse me young man do you need help with something?"

When Naruto heard the woman speak he nearly jumped 10 ft in the air due to the surprise caused by his distraction, _'Awesome ninja my ass I can't even sense when a civilian is right behind me!'_ Turning to face his elder Naruto decided to ask for help, it was better than wandering around without a clue of where he was going. "Um yes I'm kind of new to the city and I was looking for a place I could buy groceries when I got lost." Naruto said while he rubbed the back of his head, a nervous tick he had ever since he was a kid.

With a short chuckle at the blonde's dilemma the elderly woman decided to help the young man out. "If that's the case then all you have to do is go down that street there and take a left and walk for a bit and you should come across what you're looking for."

With Naruto's usual foxy grin making its way to his face Naruto expressed his gratitude to the kind woman, "Thank you very much…" pausing for a second Naruto realized he never got the woman's name.

"Oh where are my manners my name is Seiko Hata."

Giving the woman a friendly smile Naruto gave her his thanks once again, "Thank you very much for your help Hata-san my name is Naruto Uzumaki it's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you to Uzumaki-san."

"Please Naruto will do just fine having people call me Uzumaki-san is to strange for my tastes. Once again thank you but I must be going now but if there is ever anything I can do for you I'd be more than happy to help." With that Naruto began to turn in the direction that Seiko pointed him to. But before he did Seiko was able to get something else in.

"If that's the case how do feel about you and your family coming to have dinner with mine in a few days, think of it as a way of welcoming you to Shinjuku, Naruto-kun." It was only after she finished that she noticed sad look that crossed Naruto's face before he hid it with a grin that didn't seem to reach his eyes.

"It's just me living here Hata-san my parents died when I was young." Noticing the women's saddened look from most likely bring up the subject Naruto responded quickly so she wouldn't feel guilt about it, "Don't worry Hata-san it happened a long time ago and I know my parents wouldn't want me to feel bad about it for the rest of my life so you shouldn't be sad either."

Giving the blonde a small nod Seiko smiled once again to show she understood. "Then I must insist you come to dinner Naruto-kun to welcome you to Shinjuku and to apologize for my mistake."

"You really don't have to apologize Hata-san you didn't do anything wrong and I wouldn't want to bother you or your family by imposing." Naruto really didn't know how to react to this woman not only did she help him out with the directions to the nearest grocery store but now she was inviting him to her home, how did he get in this mess.

"It's no bother at all Naruto-kun, so can I expect you to come to dinner a week from tomorrow." She asked though it really didn't seem much like a question as she wrote down the address of her home and directions to get to it on a piece of paper she had in her pocket before handing it over to Naruto.

Seeing no way to refuse the invitation Naruto had no choice but to accept. "Hai Hata-san" he responded as he accepted the piece of paper taking a quick glance at it before storing it in his pocket so he doesn't lose it.

"Good see you soon Naruto-kun" And with that Seiko Hata turned and left presumably going home as she left one confused as hell blonde behind her all the while thinking, _'Naruto-kun would be a good friend for Rika, he hasn't had it easy but he doesn't let that affect him negatively maybe he can help Rika to open up a bit.'_ With those final thoughts she made her way home to begin that night's dinner before her granddaughter got home if she wasn't already.

'_How did this happen? And it was Coronamon and Patamon who were supposed to stay out of trouble.'_ Giving a mental groan Naruto turned and made his to the grocery store and finish what he first set out to do.

* * *

When Naruto got home with the groceries and his school supplies, thanks to the help of some shadow clones and the transformation jutsu to carry all the extra bags, the first thing he heard was Coronamon asking him a question all the way from the living room.

"Hey Naruto where have you been? You just up and left without telling us." When Coronamon asked this Naruto was really agitated, this day had really tried his patience.

"What do you mean I told you, both of you, before I left that I was going out to get some groceries."

"You did?"

"Yes I did."

Taking a second to try and remember Coronamon drew up a blank so he just shrugged his shoulders before turning to the new program he and Patamon were watching.

Seeing that his partners ignore him in favor of what they were watching Naruto made his way to the kitchen to prepare he and his two partners were going to have **(AN: I have no idea what kind of food is made in Japan and I'm already bad with our own so imagine up whatever you want.) **before he turned in for the night so he could get up early to go to school the next day, thankfully it was already Thursday so he would only have to deal with one day of class before the weekend started.

After a good diner with some decent company Naruto lied down in his bed to sleep for the night, _'Well that takes care of the first here hopefully the next few won't be as troublesome… Great now I'm channeling Shikamaru I really need to sleep.' _With that Naruto feel into a deep sleep where he dreamed of ramen and becoming Hokage all night long.

* * *

"Hello may I have your attention please, before we begin today I would like to introduce a new student that would be joining us please greet him warmly." A woman spoke to her class as they all quieted down as soon as she began speaking none of them wanted to get detention or be assigned extra homework over the weekend. Seeing that all her students were giving her their undivided attention she turned toward the door located at the front of the room. "You may come in now." With that a blond teen entered the room walking toward the teacher's desk before facing all his new fellow classmates.

"Hello everyone my names Naruto Uzumaki."

* * *

**AN: Ok done. So how's that I hope everyone can accept the partners I choose. I have plans for them later on Patamon more than Coronamon but he'll have his moments as well. When I first began this chapter I was going to introduce all the tamers but I decided to leave there at the end but you can expect Takato and Henry to make their appearance next chapter. I also didn't plan on adding that part with Seiko Hata but it sort of came about as I was typing it and I would like to know what you all think**

**Also for later on I need help with picking and evil ultimate (Perfect) level digimon it can be anyone you want except for Lucemon.**

**The inspiration for Naruto's clothes can be found on my profile.**

**Well that it for now please remember to review and let me know what you think and if anyone has any ideas I will take them into consideration and see if I can work them in there.**

**Until later Ja ne from Resurrection of the Forgotten, Res for short, and remember this a Zero Shadow production and all I own is the story idea nothing else so nobody sue me I don't have anything worth taking anyway. **


	3. Meetings and Battles

**AN: I'm having a harder time starting this chapter so the beginning might be a little slow. I'm still looking for an evil Ultimate (Perfect) level digimon so if anyone has any suggestions please tell me in your reviews.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Digimon, or anything else that may make its way into this story. **

* * *

Meetings and Battles

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

"**Megidramon"**

**(AN)**

_**Last Time**_

"_**You may come in now." With that a blond teen entered the room walking toward the teacher's desk before facing all his new fellow classmates.**_

"_**Hello everyone my names Naruto Uzumaki."**_

For the first half of the day Naruto was bored out of his mind to the point he was almost wishing he could fight Madara again. _'Seriously when am I ever going to use this stuff in my life?'_ Along with what Megidramon uploaded into his mind about the common things Naruto could find in this world he also uploaded the information he would need and while it wasn't enough to make him a genius he wouldn't be the dobe of the class either._'Even the threat of more homework or detention __ school isn't that big of a deal because of the kage bunshin no jutsu.' _It wasn't until after P.E. had begun that something interesting started to happen.

Apparently while they were outside the principle came across a red dinosaur he believed was going to eat him. Naruto immediately noticed that one of his fellow classmates, Takato Matsuki he believed, started to panic and run around the school looking for someone. _'Someone called Guilmon most likely his digimon partner. Either Guilmon doesn't listen very well or Takato is a really lousy tamer, could be both.'_ Naruto would have followed Takato in his search for Guilmon but decided against it seeing as the kid didn't have a clue were his partner could be and Naruto didn't feel like searching half the city for him. _'Takato's got to learn to keep better track of his partner.'_ Luckily for Naruto the rest of the school day was canceled to deal with the principle's panic attack while the teachers assured him that there were no dinosaurs. _'I should head over to the apartment and pick up Coronamon and Patamon and take them to the park so they aren't stuck all day inside.' _With that thought in mind Naruto dashed off toward were his apartment was located.

Making it to his apartment and picking up his partners didn't take more than a few minutes, apparently they had got bored with what was on TV and were excited at the chance to explore the city. Turning towards his partners Naruto instructed them to get on his back so they could make it to the park quicker. "Come on you two if we're lucky we might find something interesting." Once they made it to the park they immediately began to explore the park, they really couldn't enjoy it before seeing as they were in such a rush to get to the apartment and the race Naruto and Coronamon had. It reminded Naruto of Konoha which brought a nice break from the differences between it and the city of Shinjuku.

'_It's peaceful here I could definitely see myself spending a lot of time here either relaxing or training.'_ Naruto took a deep breath of the fresh air the park offered, being from a village with little to no pollution Naruto had taken for granted how clean the air was compared to that of Shinjuku. _'This place is definitely the best thing I've seen since I got here.'_ While they were looking around they also remember to keep a look out for any potential places they could train and while they did find good spots nothing seemed to be exactly what was needed. _'Either the place isn't big enough for us to train properly or it's too out in the open making it easy to be discovered.'_ Letting out a sigh Naruto and his partners continued looking around and enjoying the atmosphere, _'Maybe I should try and contact Megidramon and see what else he can tell me about the field.' _Their search had also been limited with the fact that Patamon and Coronamon had to remain in the shadows casted by the trees to make sure no one found them and while Naruto could easily claim that they were stuffed toys it would be hard to explain why he was caring around two of them no matter how popular digimon were.

It was during their search through the park that Naruto and company found Takato and what look like a red raptor out walking around in plain sight, _'Looks like I was right Takato really isn't much of a tamer if he's walking around with his digimon where anyone can see them.' _Turning his sights to Guilmon, Naruto took in the virus digimon appearance,_ 'Mostly read with black markings over his body, bat ears similar to Patamon's and what looks like a white underbelly from what I can see.'_ Still hidden by the foliage Naruto watched Guilmon was suddenly attacked by Renamon. _'Well, looks like we did find something interesting after all.'_

* * *

"Come on Guilmon its right around here." Takato and Guilmon had been in the park looking for a place to hide Guilmon during the day, well Takato was looking Guilmon was chasing squirrels, away from everyone. "And stop chasing the squirrels." Takato wore a blue short sleeved shirt with a hood and white undershirt. He also wore grey pants/shorts **(AN: What the hell are they they're too long to be shorts but too short to be pants.)** and green and grey shoes. He wore yellow wristbands and had on yellow rimmed goggles with blue tinted lenses on his head.

"Aw but they like It." Guilmon replied in a childish voice.

"I somehow doubt that boy." Besides the scare that Guilmon had given him earlier this still had been the best thing that had ever happened to Takato I mean he was a tamer how many could say they actually had a partner digimon. Of course his excitement about the situation started to go downhill when he watched his partner being knocked into a fence from a kick from another digimon, a Renamon by the looks of it.

"What was that all about?" Takato asked as Guilmon picked himself up from being knocked into the fence and got ready to fight if his dilated eyes and the growling coming from him was any indication.

"That was your digimon eating dirt," stated Rika as Renamon landed beside her by the looks of it neither thought much of the other tamer and digimon.

"I saw you in my dream," Takato replied, a little freaked, shaking himself out of his surprise Takato continued, "No way, it can't be."

"So, you're a lousy tamer and you're weird. This doesn't seem like its going too much of a fight" said Rika, she was starting to doubt if this kid should even be a tamer. "A lousy tamer, who probably wastes his time writing a whole bunch of pathetically mushy Taiora fanfiction just because you didn't like the shows ending," **(AN: I have nothing against the pairing its actually one of my favorites when it comes to digimon I just had to put it in because it sounds like something Rika would say.)**

* * *

'_Heh, I don't even know what she's talking about and I can still tell she insulted him,'_ Naruto thought from his spot behind the tree his digimon partner sharing similar thoughts. Looking toward Guilmon as he picked himself up Naruto caught sight of something on the virus digimon's chest _'Wait was that…?'_

* * *

'_How did she know?'_ thought a panicking Takato.

Guilmon's thoughts on the other hand were a lot simpler than those of his partner and less panicked, _'I wonder if Takatomon has anymore bread, I'm hungry.'_

"Now am-scary, unless you think you can handle us, little boy."

"I am not either a lousy tamer." Takato shot back, getting over his mental panic attack, before trying to explain himself, "Guilmon is just young, that's all."

"Like tamer, like digimon, come on he's at least a rookie right?" Rika really was starting to doubt if this kid should be a tamer. _'Maybe I'll be doing the world a favor by having Renamon absorbing dino-boys data.'_

"Um, eh, well," Takato thought to himself as he looked at Guilmon getting what sounded like 'I don't know' from the rookie level digimon, "Yeah, well at least I think so, that's what I was going for, I've never done this before."

"Never done what before?" Rika was curious as to what this goggle-head thought he was doing, Takato just uh'd to that question so she assumed he was stalling until he thought of something, "Oh, how clever, Renamon."

Renamon started to walk towards the other pair as Takato tried to talk his way out of things, "No wait, call her off, come on we don't want to fight."

"I knew you were just a little boy with a pet digimon," Rika said annoyed, "What do you think digimon were made for you goofy little goggle-head."

"Uh, that's like asking the asking the meaning of life," Takato replied

"For goodness sake, let's just get this over with," Renamon interjected before she leaped up into the air and prepared her best attack. Renamon was once again getting that feeling from the other day, the presence was here watching them and she wanted to get this over as quickly as possible to figure what it was exactly that was making here feel this way.

"Guilmon, run away," Takato cried, he didn't want to lose his partner digimon so soon after meeting him.

"Diamond Storm," Renamon cried before the dozens of crystal shards that she had just generated launched towards Guilmon only to have no affect as they harmlessly bounced off the red digimon's skin.

Guilmon answered the attack with his own, "Pyro Sphere," he cried as he shot a fireball from his mouth, only to miss his target as Renamon had jumped out of the way of the fireball as soon as she had landed.

Seeing that neither of their attacks had accomplished anything both digimon charged one another only to end up rolling around in the dirt. They ended their little wrestling match with Guilmon on top of Renamon biting one of her arms as he held her down.

"That's just plain sloppy, Renamon" stated Rika irritated with the situation at hand, the fact that Renamon was having so much trouble with a couple of rookies was disgraceful, that they didn't have a clue what they were doing only added to her irritation. Sliding a card through her D-ark she called out "Digimodify Armor activate" before a blaster like weapon appeared on Renamon's arm.

Sadly, for her anyway, before her partner could use her new weapon Takato was finally able to gain Guilmon's attention "Guilmon now would be a good time for you to start listening to me."

That seemed to snap Guilmon out of his trance since his eyes lost their viral trait and he started to make his way back to Takato saying something about it being time to play.

Seeing the way that Takato and Guilmon interacted with one another caused Renamon to hesitate, something that Rika wasn't about to allow.

"What's wrong with you, attack!" at her partners orders Renamon jumped toward the other digimon and tamer pair getting her temporary weapon ready to fire.

* * *

Watching the fight Naruto could honestly say that he was slightly disappointed with his fellow tamers. _'This fight was a real let down. Takato has no experience with fighting and Rika is still showing her tendency from the other day to rush into a situation she doesn't know if she can handle.'_ Seeing Renamon prepare to attack again Naruto decided it was time to intervene.

"Patamon, Coronamon, I think it's about time we join in don't you?" Naruto questioned, getting a nod of the head from both his partners. "Alright then let's go."

* * *

As Renamon reached the height of her jump her mind was distracted by the way the other two partners interacted._ 'How they treat each other is so much different from the way Rika and I interact, what makes their bond is different from the one Rika and I share.'_

She was so distracted by her thoughts that she didn't notice the attack coming from her side until it was too late. All she knew was that one moment she was about to attack the virus digimon the next she heard a cry of "Boom Bubble" before she being hit from the side by a massive amount of air pressure. Luckily she had enough time to recover before she hit the ground, landing on her feet before she looked up into the sky and saw that her attacker had been a Patamon.

With Renamon distracted by looking up at Patamon she missed Coronamon rushing toward her with his left fist being on fire. It wasn't until she heard Coronamon call out "Corona Knuckle" did she realize her mistake but by that time it had already proven to late as Coronamon had already punched with an upper cut sending her in Rika direction where she landed right behind her shocked tamer.

Snapping herself out of her shock Rika pulled out her D-arc to check out the two new digimon. _'They must be the digimon that came through yesterday. Good that means we won't have to hunt them down later.'_ pointing it toward the digimon she didn't recognize, Rika read out the information.

"Coronamon, a Rookie level digimon, vaccine type, his attacks are Corona Flame and Coro Knuckle. Nothing that Renamon can't handle." Taking her D-arc Rika turned to Patamon and read his stats. "Patamon, another Rookie as well a Data/Vaccine type, attacks are Boom Bubble and Slamming Attack, nothing special about this one." _'Just a couple of Rookies, nothing Renamon can't handle.'_

Looking toward her newly risen partner Rika said, "You know what I expect."

Renamon's replies to her words were a simple, "Of course Rika."

But before Renamon could start to fight against the two new arrivals she was prevented by a shout of, "STOP!" Hearing the voice everyone turned their heads toward the direction that the shout came from to see who decided to interrupt the fight only for one person to recognize who it was.

"It's you!" Takato cried out happy that someone he at least recognized had come to stop the fighting that had been going on.

"It's me, it's him, and aren't you happy to see us?" a rabbit/dog digimon said as it made its way to the other digimon. **(AN: That is seriously my favorite line for Terriermon don't know why though it just is.)**

"Another Digimon," Rika questioned, a little confused and very irritated at this point, "This is just crazy, they're popping up everywhere."

When he finally reached them he decided to comment on the fight he had witnessed, first toward Renamon. "You were really good there at the start but didn't you feel silly rolling around in the dirt like that." Before turning toward Coronamon and Patamon, who had just landed seeing as the fighting seemed to have ended, "And isn't two against one in a fight unfair, especially when they were already fighting someone."

"You know it's not smart to mouth off to someone bigger than you or when you're out numbered, Terriermon." said the boy as he finally reached the group. He had blue hair and grey eyes. He wore an orange vest with a black shirt underneath and, brown pant, and a pair of grey shoes and wrists bands.

The digimon, Terriermon apparently turned toward his partner, "Henry, momentai."

"You take it easy." Henry shot back.

Before anything else could be said Naruto joined in having gotten tired of watching as nothing seemed to happen, "You know when you fight you really shouldn't worry about if what your doing is fair or not."

The tamers and their digimon turned toward where the voice came from to see a blond walking out from behind a tree and making his way toward them. At first they were worried, well Takato and Henry were worried Rika didn't care, that someone had discovered that digimon were real but relaxed slightly when they saw Patamon and Coronamon make their way to the blond.

"Yo." Naruto said with a way of his hand in a manner similar to that of his old sensei Kakashi. At the same time he took a discrete glance at Guilmon's chest where he saw the symbol for the Digital Hazard. _'Yup there it is, I'll be keeping a close eye on him incase anything strange starts to happen,'_ Turning his attention to Takato he took careful note of the boy, _'I should probably keep my eyes on him too just in case.'_

"Hey, you're Naruto Uzumaki the new kid in my class, right?" Takato said when he finally recognized the blond.

"That's right and your Takato Matsuki the boy that was running around the school like a chicken with its head cut off looking for a Guilmon, right." Naruto questioned though he said it in a way that made it sound more like a statement than a question. This caused mixed results between those who were gathered, Terriermon and Coronamon chuckling heavily at Takato's expense while said tamers was blushing heavily from embarrassment, Patamon and Henry tried to hide their amusement so not to appear rude; Guilmon didn't understand what was going on, Renamon showed no outward reaction at all seemingly to have frozen the moment that Naruto stepped out from behind the tree, and Rika held a smirked in amusement.

Finally regaining his composure Henry decided he should figure out what is going on. "Just what are your digimon fighting about anyway?"

Rika scoffed at the question but answered anyway. "That's a stupid question, what else are digimon supposed to do." she asked though it didn't seem like a question.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "Got bored of watching Takato and his partner get their butts kicked." This got an offended "Hey" from the goggle headed tamer.

Not sure how to respond to what Naruto said Henry ignored it and focused on Rika. "Whatever they want to do, they're not our slaves or pets," Henry stated, before Terriermon jumped up into his arms, "they're our friends, they just want to do the same sort of things we do."

"Well Renamon wants to fight, so do I for that matter," Rika stated, before walking off, it only took a moment for her to realize that Renamon wasn't following her. "Renamon what are you doing, let's go already."

Renamon hadn't moved since Naruto had come out from behind the tree her body frozen completely upon laying eyes on the whiskered blond._ 'Who is he? What is he? This suffocating presence it's all coming from him! He appears to be human but I've never felt anything like this before.'_ She didn't understand it was taking every fiber of her being not to kneel to the blond and show him respect even though she's never meet him before. _'Who is this boy and why do my instincts demand that I obey his every command.'_ Renamon was so distracted by her thoughts concerning Naruto she didn't hear her partner calling her until Rika was practically yelling in her ear to get her attention.

"RENAMON!" Rika shouted finally having enough of her unresponsive digimon partner.

Finally snapping herself out of her thoughts concerning the blond, Renamon turned toward her partner with an almost questioning look. A look that Rika didn't hesitate answering to, she had spent enough time hanging around these losers for one day.

"Stop wasting time and let's go Renamon." Rika said forcefully leaving no question in the others mind that this was an order to the digital vixen, her annoyance with the situation could be easily heard in her voice. Turning around again Rika all but stomped away from the other tamers as she once again expected her partner to follow.

With most of those gathered watching Rika make her dramatic exit they missed the subtle look Renamon sent Naruto's way as if asking for permission to follow her tamer and Naruto's almost unnoticeable nod of his head. With the permission given Renamon turned to follow her partner, only taking a couple of steps before seemingly vanishing into thin air.

'_Ok that was pretty cool. Wonder if Patamon or Coronamon can do that.'_ thought Naruto before turning to face Henry and Takato, "So… what do we do now?" he questioned.

* * *

It was a couple of hours later and the male tamers and their partners were in Guilmon's new home, which was just a concrete shed with an iron gate that was out of the way of the main paths people took when walking in the park. For the most part the tamers just asked each other questions to get to know one another and joked around, while the digimon played with one another.

"So Naruto where did you live before moving to Shinjuku?" asked Takato as he looked toward the blond that was leaning against the entrance to the shed.

"I use to live in a village called Konoha that is out in the country, but because it's so small and far out no one knows about it and the fact that it's basically cut off from the outside world doesn't help either. I don't think it's even on any maps." Naruto responded, while he couldn't tell them the whole truth at least part of it should do.

"Seems like a nice place, except for that no digimon thing, what made your family want to move here?" Takato questioned only to immediately regret it when he noticed the look that appeared on Naruto's face when he mentioned his family.

"I'm here on my own my parents died shortly after I was born," noticing the guilty look Takato had and sad look Henry was now sporting Naruto decided to say something so neither of them felt guilty for asking that sort of thing, "Hey don't worry about it I got over it a long time ago and I eventually meet people that sort of became an extended family for me. Besides I'm starting to like it here, especially with all the digimon showing up I'm getting pumped up just thinking about it."

"I see… but still I'm sorry for bringing something like that up." Takato said his voice slightly sad and guilty over the fact that he brought the subject up, it must be painful Takato didn't know what he would do without his parents.

"I already said not to worry about it Takato it happened a long time ago and I'm over it so if I'm not sad about it neither can you. That goes for you too Henry." Naruto said ending it with one of his usual foxy grin. "Anyway the reason I came here was because someone asked for my help and it dealt with coming to Shinjuku, where I was lucky enough to meet Coronamon and Patamon." At the same time Naruto thought it would be a good idea if they changed focus from him and learn more about the other two boys. "So… how did you two meet Terriermon and Guilmon?" Naruto asked genuinely curious about how his fellow tamers meet their partners.

"I think a better question is how you got two partners, Naruto. It isn't something that happens every day after all." Henry questioned, it had been bugging him since he meet Naruto and was something Takato quickly agreed with wanting to know how the new kid in his class not only ended up with a digimon partner but two of them.

'_Well so much for that plan,'_ thought Naruto, "It really isn't that much of a story." Seeing their expectant looks Naruto just gave a sigh before continuing, "Fine when I came here yesterday I was walking through the park when I happened to come across a digital field. When it started to clear Patamon and Coronamon were there and that's pretty much it."

"That's it?" asked Takato

"Yup, told you it wasn't much of a story." Naruto said _'Though I could probably give them a bit more.'_ "Though, I did have this weird dream a couple nights before that influenced my decision to coming here." Seeing that he had both boys attention Naruto continued with his little story, "I can't remember much of it just this voice calling out to me saying that I would be needed in Shinjuku for something important. Then everything just becomes foggy again."

The three tamers were silent for a moment each with their own thought concerning the **'dream' **Naruto had. Henry wasn't sure if it really had to do with anything seeing as it was a dream, Takato was wondering if it was similar to the dream he had about Rika and her fight with the Lynxmon a couple nights ago, though he wasn't about to let anyone know he dreamt about Rika it just opened to many chances for potential teasing. Naruto just wondered how this might affect things later on.

Ignoring the dream for now Henry decided to go next in explaining how he met Terriermon. "I met Terriermon when he came out of a Digimon video game that my dad had bought for me when he came back from a business trip. He was fighting a Gorillamon and losing when I used some modify cards so he could win when he digivolved and lost control of his power. A bit later a blue card appeared and when I swiped it Terriermon came out of the computer." He could still remember it all clearly, how Terriermon ended up hurt because of him.

'_That must be why he is so opposed to fighting, he's probably guilty over all the harm he caused Terriermon and the other Digimon in the game even though it's not his fault.'_ thought Naruto as looked at the half-Japanese boy before turning his sights the small green bunny that was still playing with the others,_ 'This just keeps getting more difficult, with Henry's current mind set he won't be much help in the battles to come.'_ Giving out a mental sigh Naruto turned his attention to Takato to wait for his story though he already had a rough idea of what it is.

But before Takato could begin to explain how he met Guilmon they were interrupted from their little story telling by the voice of a certain green digi-bunny.

"Hey, I'm hungry," Terriermon said from his perch on Guilmon's head.

"But you just ate," Henry said exasperated with how much his digimon partner could actually eat.

"So, what's your point?" Terriermon asked as he tumbled to the ground, only to jump on to Henry's back before wrapping an ear around his neck for balance.

"All right, dinner time," Henry said before he walked toward the exit of the shed.

"Yeah I think we should head home too." Naruto said thoughtfully, not having noticed the sun setting with the conversations that the tamers were having, as Coronamon and Patamon made their way to him from their spot beside Guilmon. "But first I think we'll explore the park a bit more." Naruto added as he made his way outside only though heading in a different direction then Henry as he made his way deeper into the park.

"Hey, I forgot to ask, what does Momentai mean?" Takato called after them.

"You still haven't figured it out?" asked Terriormon, "It means take it easy."

Walking into the deeper parts of the park Naruto couldn't help but go over what happened earlier.

_(Small Flashback)_

_Naruto caught sight of something on the virus digimon's chest _'Wait was that…?'_ getting a better look at Guilmon Naruto noticed the Digital Hazard symbol that was on Guilmon' chest, the exact same symbol that was on Megidramon's chest and now his left hand. _'The Digital Hazard, that wasn't so hard to find. So it was Takato who tapped into the Hazard's power, guess that means that it'll be him that I'll have to watch out for. Though for now let's see what his pet dino can do.'

_With that final thought Naruto pulled out his D-arc so he could take a scan of Guilmon, _'Now let's see here. Name Guilmon, level rookie, oh lookie here a virus type huh might prove interesting later on. Next his attacks are Pyro Sphere and Rock Breaker, a long range attack and a close range one guess that the norm for most digimon.' _Lowering his D-arc Naruto watched as Guilmon and Renamon began to fight. _'Alright let's see what a digimon with the Digital Hazard can do in a fight.'

_(End Flashback)_

In the end the fight turned out to be a real let down seeing as for the most part Renamon was in control until the end and because he didn't really learn anything about Guilmon that could be useful later on besides him having trouble listening to this tamer.

'_Though that isn't completely true I did learn something.'_ thought Naruto. It was during the fight when he noticed Rika pull out her D-arc and try to get a scan on Guilmon only for it not to work which resulted in her calling it a piece of junk. _'Why was my D-arc able to get information on Guilmon while Rika's couldn't? It doesn't make sense besides the color scheme they look exactly alike.'_ Letting out a sight Naruto decided he would simply have to ask Megidramon the next time he contacted him. Naruto was pulled out of his silent contemplation by the sound of one of his partner's voice

"Naruto?" questioned Patamon.

Shaking his to clear himself of his thoughts Naruto turned to look at Patamon who was flying beside him. Looking around Naruto noticed that they stopped in a clearing, "Sorry Patamon I was just thinking about something."

"Oh, what were you thinking about?" asked Coronamon as he looked up at Naruto.

Shaking his head Naruto replied, "Nothing important, just some things that happened today." continuing to look around Naruto noticed that the clearing they were in was pretty far from any of the paths in the park, had plenty of room, and unless someone came here they wouldn't be able to see anything that happened. _'This place could work out as a potential training area. But I'll have to make sure no one comes through but how… I know I can leave a Shadow clone to keep watch.'_

With that thought in mind Naruto made an all too familiar hand sign before a poof of smoke appeared next to him. When the smoke cleared the Shadow clone immediately jumped up into the trees where it disappeared from sight. Seeing both his partners' curious expressions Naruto decided to answer them before they were actually able to ask anything.

"This clearing could work as our training ground, the only real problem is that we don't know how often people might come here so I made a Shadow clone to keep watch over the area." Naruto explained.

"Ok, why?" Coronamon questioned not understanding why his partner did this.

Seeing the confusion from both his partners at his actions Naruto decided to clear some things, "While this might be a good spot to train we don't know how often people come through here." Pausing to make sure they understood Coronamon and Patamon nodded their heads to show they were following him so far, "Well, with the shadow clone anything it learns I'll know the instant that it dispels itself. I also gave it enough chakra to last a couple days just to make sure I know how many people pass through here."

Nodding their heads again Patamon and Coronamon understood how this would be important in order to keep their secret and how useful the technique was.

Clapping his hands together Naruto had a huge grin on his face. "Alright then how about we go home now so I can introduce you to the miracle that is ramen." With that Naruto grabbed onto both his partners and took off in the direction of the apartment, he had already gone two days without ramen anymore and he might experience withdrawal symptoms.

* * *

Early the next morning Naruto was looking around the city for a card shop, after seeing some in action yesterday when Rika used them he decided that they could really come in handy during a fight. Along with getting some cards he would have to watch the TV show to become more familiar with the concept of digimon.

_'Azulongmon did say that the show in this world was based on the adventures of the Digidestined of his quadrant so it might help me deal with what this major threat is if I have an idea of what to expect. And the digimon cards could come in handy in a fight but the problem is I don't know the first thing about the game…'_

Pausing for a moment Naruto thought about this problem _'I can probably get Takato or Henry to teach me.'_ With that in mind Naruto began to look around again in search of the card shop. "Do you see where the card shop is Patamon?" Naruto asked as he looked up at his digimon partner that was riding on his head. Seeing as it was the weekend Naruto had decided to take his partners out to explore the city. While he offered to carry both his partners only Patamon accepted, Coronamon deciding he would follow them from the roof tops, while he couldn't get there without Naruto's help he could easily follow them by jumping from roof to roof. _'Coronamon sure is a prideful little digimon.'_

"Sorry but no Naruto." Patamon responded from his perch on Naruto's head.

"Oh well we'll just have to keep looking then." stated Naruto not at all discouraged.

After a few minutes Naruto and Patamon found Takato and Guilmon walking around the middle of the streets._ 'What is he doing walking around with Guilmon in the middle of the day?'_ Naruto would have been very concerned with how the public would react if he wasn't witness to what happened next. Apparently when a little kid asked about Guilmon, Takato just told them Guilmon was a guy in a suite for Halloween** (AN: Does anyone know what the date is?)**. This was immediately accepted by everyone as they seem to ignore the goggle headed boy and his digimon partner._ 'Either Digimon is so popular that this isn't all that uncommon or people are just more gullible here than back home… or it could be both,'_ Looking how no one questioned Takato's answer it could be very likely it was both.

"You know…" Naruto said as he made his way toward Takato, "I'm surprised people actually bought that; the people back home would have been a lot more suspicious."

"Well… I guess that's just one of the good things about Shinjuku then." Takato replied giving out a nervous laugh at the fact that his plan worked. "So what are you doing here Naruto and where's Coronamon?" Takato asked just noticing that the small fire digimon wasn't with the blonde haired boy.

"He's here somewhere he didn't like the idea of me carrying him around like a plush toy apparently," Naruto said with a chuckle "as for me I'm here looking for a card shop, you wouldn't happen to know where I can find one would ya?"

Nodding his head Takato said, "Yeah there is one close by that I usually go to, I can show you where it-" but before he could finish he was cut off by Guilmon who started to growl as his eyes turned into their viral state before taking off. "Guilmon, where are you going?" Takato shouted after his digimon, "Why does this keep happening to me?" Takato asked himself as he chased after Guilmon.

"Who knows maybe that girl has a point when she called you a lousy tamer, Takato." Naruto replied nonchalantly as he caught a sight of Coronamon following them from the rooftops.

"I didn't really need that question answered Naruto." Takato deadpanned a slight twitch in his eye as he spared the blond who was running alongside him a glance. In return Naruto simply shrugged his shoulders.

Their chase eventually leads them to an underground parking lot where Rika and Renamon stood waiting for them. At seeing Naruto arrive Renamon immediately stiffened up the presence Naruto released unconsciously already affecting her. Rika on the other hand was annoyed the blonde along with the other boy had interfered with her fight with the goggle-head yesterday and now here he was when she was supposed to finish what she started.

"What are you doing here whiskers?"

'_Oh, wow whiskers how original.'_ Naruto thought sarcasm dripping from each of his words, "What's the matter Rika-chan aren't you happy to see me?" Naruto asked almost mockingly.

"How do you know my name," she asked her voice gaining a threatening tone to it "and don't call me Rika-_**chan**__._" she added at the end.

A sly smile appeared on Naruto's face that only served to irritate Rika further, "No reason in particular I was just looking some things about digimon and I happen to find a mention of a certain Digimon Queen and that she lived here in Shinjuku. I got curious and decided to see who she was and imagine my surprise when I learned that it was one Rika Nonaka, the same girl that was kicking dino-boy's butt yesterday." Naruto said like it wasn't that big of a deal. "Now how about you tell me what you're doing here Rika-chan?"

Rika's eyebrow twitched as Naruto continued to call her that, "I told you to stop calling me that!" Rika grounded out. "As for what I'm doing here isn't it obvious I'm here to finish my fight with goggle-head that you interrupted." Rika finished in an almost accusing tone as if Naruto's actions were some sort of crime against kami.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that Rika." Naruto stated as he looked straight at the red headed girl. This accomplished two things, one tick Rika off more and relieve Takato who was afraid he would have fight her again now more than ever seeing as she was the Digimon Queen.

Rika scoffed at Naruto's announcement not really caring what the blond had to say, "Oh, and why is that? Because we're all tamers and are supposed to work together to save the Digital world?"

Naruto blinked completely lost to what Rika was saying **(AN: The look Goku gets whenever he goes from being serious to having that wide eye look.)**. "No. Because, Rika-chan, your opponents are going to be me and my partners." Naruto said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world throwing in the Rika-chan bit just annoy her, Naruto had to admit she looked cute when she was angry.

Ignoring the Rika-chan part Rika raised an eyebrow at this surprised that the blond hadn't gone off on some stupid speech about how they were meant to work together, have an awesome adventure that would result in them saving both the human world and the digital one.

Takato was on the verge of having a panic attack his new friend was challenging the freaking _**Digimon Queen**_ to a battle was he nuts. "Naruto, what are you doing? You can't actually believe you can beat her do you." Takato said nervously the actions of his blond friend really getting to him.

Turning to his friend Naruto put his hand over where his heart would be and said in mock hurt, "You have so little faith in me Takato I'm hurt." Seeing the incredulous that Takato had Naruto decided to reassure him a bit "Don't worry it'll be fine." Naruto finished dismissively as if what he was doing wasn't that big of a deal, which to him it wasn't.

'_He can't actually he can take her can he? He just met Coronamon and Patamon a few days ago and he doesn't even have any cards with him.'_ Takato thought before he tried to dissuade his friend one last time, "Naruto think about what you're doing there is no way you can beat her she's the best card player in all of Shinjuku and you barely know the first thing about Digimon." Takato hoped his reasoning would get through to Naruto this girl didn't mess around and wouldn't hesitate to delete both Patamon and Coronamon.

Naruto gave Takato one of his foxy grins before he turned around to face Rika, "You shouldn't underestimate me Takato…or Coronamon and Patamon for that matter."

Rika watched as the two boys talked slightly irked that they were ignoring her. As she watched them she started to evaluate the whiskered blonde. He was different from what she expected for one he wasn't a fan-boy of hers which is always a good thing. Secondly he wasn't afraid of her like the goggle-head and most other people who've met her. And lastly he actually seemed like he wanted to fight unlike the tamer with the Terriermon, hell he even looked excited even knowing who he was up against. _'What is with this guy he helped to stop Renamon from finishing the digital dino because he was board and now here he wants to fight me and Renamon? Why?'_

Rika was snapped out of her thoughts when she saw Naruto turn to her. "So, Rika, are you and foxy ready to start this show or what?" Naruto asked as Patamon left his place from on top of Naruto's head and now flew beside him and Coronamon stood beside his tamer. Guilmon sensing that he wouldn't be fighting came out of his viral state and stepped back to stand by his tamer.

"And why exactly should we fight you when we challenged the goggle-head?"

Naruto smirked knowing that he would only have to push her a bit to accept, "What's the matter Rika-chan scared you'll lose?"

That did it, "Renamon walk all over him." Rika commanded, not only did the blond call her Rika-_**chan**_ again but even asked if she was scared of losing to him, she wasn't scared of anyone or anything.

Renamon hesitated, her instincts telling her not to challenge Naruto but at the same time she knew that she had to in order not to displease her tamer.

"Now don't hold back I want to see what you can do!" Naruto said noticing that Renamon didn't follow Rika's command the moment she said it. _'I need to figure out some way to see how much me being the Kyuubi_ _affects her.'_

Though Renamon knew he said it in a way that everyone would think he was talking to Rika she knew it was his way of giving her permission to attack, especially since he was looking at her when he said it, something she doubted anyone else noticed.

With that in mind Renamon jumped into the air to prepare for her signature attack. Crossing her arms hundreds of diamond shards appeared in front of her, then with a cry of "Diamond Storm." Renamon spread out her arms as all the shards shot forward to strike both Coronamon and Patamon.

Naruto reacted at once the second he saw Renamon jump into the air, already anticipating what her attack would be, "Coronamon, Patamon launch your attacks and make them collide in front of the Diamond Storm."

Quickly following their tamer's command both digimon launched their own long ranged attack. Coronamon with a Corona Flame that appeared on his hand and Patamon with his Boom Bubble launched their attacks when the two attacks were about to hit the Diamond Storm they collided but for a split second Naruto noticed that his digimons' attacks tried to combine together before they exploded.

'_Well this is interesting,'_ thought Naruto _'If we can get the timing right we might be able to combine their attacks into something stronger.'_ He then continued to watch the fight to see the results of the combined attack.

When the explosion occurred it destroyed most of the diamond shards from Renamon's attack and those that weren't were now off course allowing Patamon and Coronamon to easily dodge the attack. Flying above Renamon, Patamon shot another Boom Bubble towards Renamon while she was still in mid-air. Renamon seeing the attack coming and knowing that there was no way for her to avoid it she braced herself. When the Boom Bubble hit she was able to avoid any serious damage but still sent toward the ground, like yester day Renamon was able to recover in time but unlike yesterday she immediately jumped away from the spot she landed expecting Coronamon to try and land a hit again.

When Coronamon saw what was going to happen he tried the same tactic from yesterday and hit her with Coro Knuckle. When Renamon landed he didn't expect her to jump back which caused him to miss and leave him open for Renamon to land a kick on his head which sent him flying back into a car door denting it.

'_Hope these people have insurance.'_ Thought Naruto just now realizing how much property damage they could cause.

"Slamming Attack!" having seen Coronamon be kicked and then crash into a car Patamon dived at Renamon and began to spin around starting his second attack.

Renamon turning her attention away from Coronamon since he wasn't currently a threat saw what Patamon was trying to do. Renamon knew that she didn't have enough time to affectively use Diamond Storm. Gathering energy into her paws Renamon called out her other attack, "Power Paw." On her hands a blue like flame appeared and once Patamon got close enough she tried to punch him. The two attacks collided and for a few seconds they pushed against each other before a small explosion sent both digimon to opposite sides of the garage.

Having recovered enough to see the end result of Renamon's and Patamon's attacks colliding immediately headed in the direction Renamon was sent before jumping into the air, "Corona Flame." Coronamon called out as a fireball once again appeared in his hand which he threw towards Renamon. Unfortunately Renamon had regained her bearings and had plenty of time to dodge Coronamon's attack with only the fur on her tail being singed from the attack.

Irritated that none of his attacks had landed Coronamon charged toward Renamon with a cry of, "Coro Knuckle!" as both his fists were covered by flames.

Patamon took to the air again once he recovered and at seeing Coronamon charge Renamon he decided to stay back and support him from a distance with his long ranged attacks.

Renamon saw Coronamon coming and once again used her Power Paw attack to meet him head on. It was an exchange of fists as blue flames meet orange, while Renamon had more experience to help her Coronamon's height made it hard for her to land an effective hit which he used to his advantage. Renamon tried to kick him again but Coronamon saw what she was trying to do and was able to block in time so the damage was minimal. The kick did manage to send him flying back toward one of the pillars but before he hit it Coronamon was able to right himself so he landed on it before using it as leverage to jump toward Renamon fist cocked back and the Coro Knuckle in full blaze.

Renamon was slightly caught by surprise that Coronamon was able to recover in time so when he came in to punch her she wasn't able to either dodge or block landing a solid hit to her face. But Renamon did have enough time to hit Coronamon with an upper cut to the stomach. The force of their punches once again sent the two a distance away from each other.

For Rika this battle wasn't going at all how she wanted it to. Sure Renamon was going up against two different opponents but to having to be on the defensive throughout most of the fight was completely unacceptable. She started to reach for a card when she was stopped by a voice coming from the garage entrance.

"What's going on down here?" asked Henry as he and Terriermon walked into the garage.

"Henry you're here!" Takato said excited hoping to convince Naruto to stop fighting, sure he was doing okay now but how much longer could that last.

Rika scoffed believing that the reason Takato was so excited was because he was hoping his friend would help them win. "Don't make me laugh do you really think that weenie little bunny can stand up to Renamon." Of course it didn't really matter to Rika they would need all the help they could get if they even wanted to dream of a chance at beating her… and Renamon too of course.

"Who are you calling a weenie? Henry, I think that qualifies as rude." stated Terriermon, with cheeks puffed out and hands on his waist.

This earned him a mild glare from Rika, "I'd be quiet if I was you unless you want to turn you into rabbit stew."

That had the digital bunny flinching mentally. _'This girl can be really scary when she wants to be.'_

"Yeah that seems to be going around a lot Terriermon." responded Henry to what his partner said, looking at the two fighting tamers and their digimon

"Yo Henry it's nice to see ya." Naruto said raising his hand in greeting without taking his eyes off of Rika and Renamon.

"Naruto what are you doing?" asked Henry slightly alarmed that the blond was taking part in the fight.

Looking back at Henry Naruto had a confused look on his face, "What do you mean? I'm having a little sparing match with Rika-chan of course." Naruto said like it was the most obvious thing in the world which it was.

"But why I thought you understood that Digimon aren't here for to make them fight with each other." Henry said frustrated that Naruto would admit to it so obviously.

Sighing Naruto closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair before he opened them and focused his gaze only at Henry with a serious look in his eyes. "Listen Henry I understand that you would prefer to avoid fighting but sometimes that isn't an option." Pausing for a second to think about his past Naruto continued to speak, "Sometimes you aren't given a choice and you're forced to fight, then what will you do Henry?"

"I don't know I'll make that decision when the time comes, but until then I can't simply give up on trying to resolve things peacefully." replied Henry.

Now Naruto was starting to get frustrated, "Can you really afford to wait till the last second to make that kind of choice? Because you couldn't come to a decision someone could have been in put in some serious danger." Naruto said a slight edge to his voice.

"What do you mean?" asked Henry not understanding what Naruto was trying to say and a part of him fearing the answer.

"Listen in an ideal world we would all get along and wouldn't have to worry about fighting. But that isn't the case we don't live in an ideal world and eventually a digimon will crossover that won't hesitate hurting innocent people and if you try to talk to that digimon you won't be putting just yourself in danger but Terriermon and a whole bunch of others as well." Naruto stopped to calm himself before continuing, "I'm not telling you to give up on your beliefs its actually something similar to one of my dreams, but what I am saying is that you need to be ready to make the tough decisions now rather than later when someone could get hurt."

"But to fight and delete digimon on a simple possibility doesn't feel right." Henry dejectedly replied.

Naruto gave Henry a small reassuring smile, "Then don't, fight to protect. To protect the innocent and those who are precious to me that is the reason I fight and continue to grow stronger."

Rika by this point had gotten tired of listening and decided to interrupt. "If you two are done with your chit chat I'd like to finish this fight now." Even though she said it as if what Naruto said didn't really concern her, a small part of herself couldn't help but to consider the blonds words. _'Fighting to protect that which is precious to you.'_ She couldn't think of that now she had a fight to win.

"Hai, hai sorry for the interruption Rika-chan lets continue." Naruto said as he turned back to face her and Renamon.

A tick mark appeared on Rika's head when she heard Naruto what Naruto called her, _'There is that damn chan again.'_ Rika was not about to let him get away with him calling her that again. "Renamon." she said in a commanding tone.

It seemed that was all Rika had to say because immediately Renamon got ready to resume fighting. Jumping into the air Renamon crossed her arms over her chest as the diamond shards appeared once again in front of her.

Sadly with everyone distracted no one noticed that Terriermon had gotten in the line of fire when he went to admire his reflection on a car's hub cap. By the time that Renamon had noticed that Terriermon had gotten in the way of her attack it had been too late to stop.

"No, get back!" Renamon cried out.

Terriermon only had enough time to turn around to watch as the Diamond Storm approached before an explosion occurred from the attack coming in contact with him and the car.

"TERRIERMON, NO!" Henry shouted out as he ran toward his partner as a blinding white light came from his D-arc. No one noticed the small white digimon with purple lining whose forehead began to glow just as bright as the D-arc.

DIGIVOLUTION

"Terriermon Digivolve to… Gargomon!"

When the smoke cleared what stood in Terriermon's place was a much bigger bunny, with a gun belt around his shoulder, and blue jeans. The top of his face was painted a green color with most of his ears painted the same color only leaving the edges the regular cream color his body possessed. On his face were also two red lines on each cheek and a red diamond on his forehead. But what drew most every ones attention was the Gatling gun arms he now had.

'_Oh this could be bad.'_ thought Naruto remembering Henry's story from the other day.

"He promised me he wouldn't do it." mumbled Henry as he fell to his knees in a mixture of shock and disbelief

"Let's see Gargomon, Terriermon's champion form, what a difference. Attacks are Gargo Laser and Bunny Pummel whatever that is." read out Rika as she looked down at the stats that came from her D-arc before turning her attention to the fight.

After admiring his new appearance Gargomon opened fire on everything. The first to fall victim to the Champion digimon's attack were Renamon, Patamon, and Coronamon who all had to jump away or risk being hit. The fact that he missed didn't seem to bother Gargomon as he continued to shoot cars causing to explode while the other digimon tried to figure out what to do to stop him.

"What are you doing Renamon get in there and finish him." Rika called to her partner annoyed that Renamon wasn't even trying to attack.

'_Doesn't she realize the danger that she's in.'_ thought Renamon as she made her way towards Gargomon anyway to appease her tamer. Jumping onto the berserker rabbit's back Renamon tried to use her claws to hang on only to be flung off and thrown a good distance away.

Coronamon rushed forward his Coro Knuckle in full blaze as he intended to nock some sense into Gargomon. What he didn't expect was for Gargomon's speed to increase as much as it did; as such he was taken by surprise when Gargomon dodged his attack.

"Bunny Pummel." was the first words to come out of Gargomon's mouth as he punched Coronamon in the stomach with his Gatling gun arms. The result was Coronamon being knocked into a pillar hitting his head and temporarily knocking him out.

'_Kuso that's two digimon down if things don't change soon I'll have to step in.'_ thought Naruto watching the events before him unfold.

"Guilmon you have to stop him." shouted Takato to his partner.

"Okie dokie." replied Guilmon as he made his way toward Gargomon.

"Patamon help Guilmon out by attacking from a distance and providing a distraction." called out Naruto to his only conscious digimon partner.

A quick "Right." was the only response he gained.

Sadly Gargomon saw them coming before much could be done. While Guilmon was built for speed he wasn't nearly as fast as he needed to be to reach Gargomon quickly enough and while Patamon was able to launch a few Boom Bubbles they lacked the power necessary to deal any real damage to the Champion level digimon and took too long to fire each one. That's why Patamon quickly became a flying target for the deranged bunny forcing him to hide behind one of the stone pillars to protect him giving Gargomon the chance to turn his sights on the mini-dino running at him. Only for the dino to turn back and run the other way when said bunny began to open fire on him, apparently while he had thick skin it wasn't thick enough.

'_Well that was a complete bust,'_ thought Naruto dejectedly. _'Looks like I don't have a choice in the matter I'll have to take care of this myself_.' Really you would think that four Rookies would at least be able to land an effective hit but considering that the only one with any real battle experience was Renamon I guess you couldn't expect much. _'I'm definitely going to put Coronamon and Patamon through some __**intensive**__ training later on.'_

With no immediate opponents insight Gargomon looked around for his next target that wasn't a car, after all cars blowing up could only offer so much entertainment after the 5th or 6th time it happened. Sadly his eyes fell on Rika, something that everyone seemed to notice right away. Making his way toward the redhead Gargomon lifted up his arms in preparations to fire.

For the first time Rika realized the danger she was in as was evident by the look of fear that crossed her face at seeing Gargomon walk toward her. For each step that Gargomon took forward it was one she took back until she was up against the wall._ 'Is this how I'm going to die killed by a trigger happy bunny?'_ though Rika as she closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.

Seeing her partner in danger Renamon rushed to Rika from where she was thrown, but even as she ran toward her partner she knew that she wouldn't make it in time to save her. _'No I won't make it time, Rika!'_

It was also around this time that Coronamon started to wake up still a little groggy from hitting the stone pillar. Shaking his head to get rid of the cobwebs he stood up looking around to see what was happening when he noticed the situation and made his way to try and help. At the same time Patamon came out from behind the pillar that he was using to protect himself from the barrage of bullets and prepared to fire another Boom Bubble in hopes of distracting Gargomon long enough for someone to get Rika out of there.

"Gargomon stop!" Henry yelled finally coming out of his shock of Terriermon digivolving by seeing what he was about to do.

"Guilmon you have to stop him!" Takato cried out frantically as the red raptor once again made a mad dash toward the over grown bunny in blue pants.

Everyone heard the sounds of gunfire as a multiple barrage of bullets left Gargomon's Gatling gun arms and made their way to a petrified Rika as she waited for the pain the bullets would deliver before they killed her.

When the laser bullets hit their mark it kicked up a vast amount of dust that blocked everyone's vision of what happened to Rika. When it finally started to clear everyone was amazed and relieved that it revealed that Rika wasn't there on the ground bleeding to death from the multiple bullet wounds she was sure to have gotten. In fact by the looks of it the only thing that Gargomon's Gargo Laser hit was the wall, but this raised the question of what happened to Rika.

'_What's going on?'_ thought a very confused Rika she heard the gunfire so why wasn't she hurt being too scared to open her eyes. _'What's this feeling? This warmth this feeling of safety I've never felt anything like it before. What's going on?'_ Finally having to the courage to open her eyes again the first thing Rika saw was that she was a few feet away from where she was last standing. _'How did I get here?'_ At first she believed that Renamon had managed to save her only to see a dark shade of orange fabric instead of the yellow fur of her partner. Looking up toward the face of her savior she saw whiskered cheeks; sun kissed blond hair, and the most amazing sapphire blue eyes that Rika had ever seen that she could have sworn were glowing. _'Whiskers?'_

Once everyone had seen that Rika wasn't where she was standing they immediately started to look around only to find her a few feet away being carried by Naruto bridal style as he sent a glare toward Gargomon. Most of their thoughts consisted of the same thing, _'He's fast.'_ Renamon landed near where Naruto stood kneeling before him unsure of what she was supposed to do now and settled for just watching the blond that held her tamer against his chest.

Naruto was sending a concentrated amount of killing intent at Gargomon that he made sure only Gargomon could feel as not to scare the tamers into wetting their pants. This had the desired result of causing Gargomon to freeze up. With such a clear opening Patamon fired a Boom Bubble that unbalanced Gargomon enough for Guilmon to knock him straight into a car with Coronamon close by with a Corona Flame in both hands ready to fire at a moment's notice.

'_There that wasn't too hard.' _thought Naruto as he cut the flow of his killing intent. Looking down at the girl that was still in his arms he noticed her looking at him with awe. "Hey there Rika-chan, you ok?" He asked with a heartwarming smile.

At the sound of his voice Rika was brought back to reality and a light blush crossed her cheeks as she finally realized how he was holding her. "Let go of me you PERVERT!" she yelled as she freed herself from his hold.

"What? Pervert? Is that how you thank the guy who saved your life Rika-chan?" asked Naruto in indignation at being called a pervert by the redhead.

"I didn't ask for you to help me Baka! And stop calling me Rika-chan!" she yelled back her cheeks redder than before if because of anger or embarrassment no one could tell.

"It's called saving the damsel in distress _Rika-chan_." replied Naruto emphasizing the Rika-chan part.

"What? Who was a damsel in distress? Because I sure as hell wasn't!" Rika shot back infuriated that someone would associate her with something so girly.

Naruto smirked at the fuming redhead, "Really? Didn't look that way from where I was standing." he casually replied with a hint of a mocking tone in his voice.

"Sh…Sh…shut up or I'll kick your ass Baka!"

"Humph I'd like to see you try Rika-chan."

There little lovers spat was put on hold when they heard a groan coming from where Gargomon lay indented into the car Guilmon knocked him into.

"Did anyone get the digi-code of the Monochromon that ran me over?" he asked jokingly as rubbed his head, _'Definitely going to feel that one in the morning.'_

Having regained her cool in those few seconds Rika decided it was time to leave, "Come on Renamon let's get out of here," before she turned and headed for the exit, "And next time Whiskers I'll kick yours and your digital pets' butt." she finished without turning around to face Naruto.

"Yeah, yeah love you to Rika-chan." Naruto replied waving his hand dismissively.

Before Rika could go back and probably punch the blonde for his words Renamon grabbed her tamer before the two vanished off to places only known by the two of them. Seeing as how Rika and Renamon had left Naruto walked over to the others who had gathered around Gargomon.

"Hey is everyone alright?" he asked once he reached everyone.

"Well no one seems hurt…" started Takato

"Speak for yourself; my head is killing me." interrupted Gargomon still holding his head.

"Well no one it _to_ badly hurt." finished Takato.

Looking toward his partners to make sure they were doing fine Naruto got an affirmative response that they were both doing fine. Having made sure that they were both ok Naruto turned to look at Henry who had remained quiet through all of this.

"What about you, Henry?" asked Naruto

"Huh?" was Henry's intelligent reply.

"Are you ok?" Naruto restated.

Shaking his head to get rid of the cobwebs in his head, "Oh… Yeah I'm fine guess it's just that I'm still trying to get over the shock is all." Henry said after gathering his thoughts.

Naruto smiled seeing that his friend was ok. "Alright then…so now what?" It just happened that once he got finished asking his question that they all heard the sirens of police cars heading in their direction.

"Um… getting out of here before were caught sounds good to me." Takato said fearfully as he heard the sirens get closer.

"That sounds good to me." Henry replied just as nervous as Takato felt.

"Hey! Hurry it up we don't have all day and I don't plan on breaking you out if the police catch you!" yelled Naruto from the entrance of the parking lot as he made his way outside, Coronamon and Patamon both beside him either riding on his head or his shoulder.

The two remaining tamers shared a glance before they began running for the exit with their partners following them.

"Hey Henry?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you have any idea how Naruto can be so fast, I mean he was right beside us one second the next he was at the exit." Takato asked as he desperately tried to catch up to the blonde ahead of them.

"Not a clue and right now I'm more worried about getting out of here so keep running." Henry replied.

"Hey stop chatting and run those sirens sound like they're right around the corner!" Naruto yelled back. Hearing this both tamers and their digimon ran for everything they were worth until they reached the park where they were sure they were safe.

* * *

It was a few hours later and Naruto was back at his apartment. He had spent some time with Takato and Henry at the park trying to get Gargomon to de-digivolve back into Terriermon before deciding he would call it a day and head back, after agreeing to meet Henry and Takato tomorrow at the park to go to the card shop and begin his lessons in learning how to play. He was currently on his laptop seeing what it was capable of including the digital field it could generate.

'_Let's see the digital field will cover an area specified on the laptop and it even can be active for a specific amount of time,'_ clicking on an icon that looked like his D-arc Naruto watched as additional information came onto the screen. _'Looks like the D-arc has limited control over the digital field. But by the looks of it, it can only activate the fields that have already been set and with the Digital Hazard I'll be able to deactivate them once I'm done.' _Before he could look more into this new information the screen turned black as the Digital Hazard came onto the screen.

"Megidramon?" questioned Naruto.

"**Hello Uzumaki I've come to speak to you about your question the other day and see what your thoughts on your fellow tamers are." **Megidramon answered slightly disappointed that Naruto didn't jump from fright not that he would ever admit it.

"My question?" asked Naruto slightly confused, "You mean the one about what I would do about my ninja gear?"

"**Yes that one. Like you were told when you meet myself and the other Great Dragons it's hard to open a portal to your world. As such it'll be almost impossible for you to restock your ninja supplies,"** Megidramon explained. Naruto gained a disappointed look at Megidramon words but understood. **"That being said we were able to open a portal to your world that will allow items to be transported here."**

"That's great I was really worried there for a second." Naruto excitedly replied with a huge smile on his face, but then his smile turned into a frown. "But that's not all there is to it is it?"

At his words Megidramon seemed to give a grunt of confirmation. **"Yes, the portal won't allow for anything too big to come through. At the same time the portal isn't stable enough that we will allow any living creature through safely. Finally any supplies you ask for will take anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks to arrive."**

"Why is that?"

"**We will need that time to gather the supplies you ask for without arousing suspicion from the shinobi of your world. We don't have a representative in your world that can gather the items quickly so we will have to items shipped to a secure location where we can open the portal."** Megidramon answered.

"I see, but still that is better than I expected and I'll just have to make sure that the gear I have with me are well taken care of until I can get more." Naruto said.

"**In the meantime you can use the Digital Hazard and the data manipulation it grants you to create anything that you need."**

Naruto furrowed his brows in confusion when he heard this, "You've mentioned that before but I don't have the first clue as to how I'm supposed to do it."

Megidramon gave out a heavy sigh before he began to speak, **"First off all information on the basics of what you will be doing can be found on the laptop as I stated before. Secondly, what you must remember at all times is that the Digital Hazard is a virus as such it will do whatever it can to ensure its survival."** Megidramon explained.

"And what exactly does that mean?" Naruto questioned.

"**It means Uzumaki that the Digital Hazard, once you understand the basics, will give you the knowledge necessary to ensure its survival."** Megidramon said some of his patience dwindling, **"The small part I gave you only knows how to manipulate the data around it as such it will give you knowledge dealing with programming, the creation of new data. Though seeing as you haven't even begun the basics I wouldn't worry about it at the moment." **Megidramon finished dismissively, **"Now that we are on the subject of the Digital Hazard have you come in contact with the tamer who tapped into the power of the Digital Hazard?"**

Naruto nodded his head though he wasn't sure if Megidramon could, "Yeah, Takato Matsuki and his partner Guilmon though from what I saw in the last couple of days they don't have the first clue as to what Takato did or what Guilmon now holds." Naruto replied.

Megidramon another grunt of acknowledgement, **"I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not, in any case make sure to keep a close eye on them."**

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto said before he remembered something that happened the other day, "That reminds me, the other day a fellow tamer, Rika, tried to look up information on Guilmon but all she got on her D-arc was a blank while mine got his stats like normal, why is that?" Naruto asked.

"**Like I said your D-arc is connected to the data base on all digimon that can be found on your lap top, while the other tamers also have a data base they can pull information from theirs is more limited. Once Guilmon was created all of his information was added to the data base and made available to you. If at some point in the future you want to change it so their D-arcs get their data from the same data base you'll have to reprogram them, which brings us back to the importance of data manipulation, the Digital Hazard, and learning the basics."** Megidramon explained.

"Fine I get it I'll get started on learning the basics as soon as possible." Naruto said exasperated.

**"Now tell me what you think about your fellow tamers."** Megidramon pretty much demanded

Naruto rubbed his head as he tried to think of something, "Well there isn't much to actually tell, for the most part one is to violent, the other not enough, and the last a complete rookie no matter what way you look at it." Naruto let out a sigh before continuing, "Hopefully I'll be able to do something about this because as it stands now they aren't ready to do whatever it is you expect from them."

"**I see, is there anything else."** Megidramon questioned deciding that this conversation had gone on long enough.

"I've just had trouble finding my way…. around…. the …" Naruto didn't finish his sentence because it was taking all his willpower not to face palm at this moment at the realization that just hit him **(AN: And me)**. Making a cross shaped hand sign and with a cry of "Shadow Clone Jutsu." five clones came into existence that immediately made their way to the sliding glass door located in his room which led to the balconies. Once outside they all jumped to a different roof top and began to spread out. "I'm such an idiot."

"**Agreed now would you mind explaining what came to this revelation."**

Sighing Naruto answered him, "For the past couple of days I've been having trouble finding anything in this city it just now came to me to use shadow clones to familiarize myself with its layout." **(AN: I seriously didn't think of this until I began to type it and had to keep myself from face palming at my own stupidity for not thinking about it earlier.)**

Megidramon gave a chuckle at how slow the boy seemed to be. **"Is that so, huh, guess I couldn't expect anything more from you Uzumaki. One last thing though, have you found somewhere to train yourself and your partners." **

"Yeah, I currently have a Shadow Clone keeping watch over the area to see how many people visit it for the next few days." replied Naruto.

"**Very well, that is it for now I'm not sure when or if I'll contact you again Uzumaki just make sure you keep watch over those two who've tapped into the Hazards power and begin your training in data manipulation as soon as possible."** Megidramon finished before the screen turned back to how Naruto had it.

'_Well that was informative I guess.'_ thought Naruto before he heard a call from the living room.

"Hey Naruto when are you going to start dinner we're hungry in here!" yelled Coronamon.

"Yeah, yeah I'm on it!" Naruto yelled back.

* * *

In another part of Shinjuku one Rika Nonaka had just finished eating dinner with her grandmother. All throughout the meal Seiko Hata noticed that her granddaughter was deep in thought but knew better than to pry when it concerned her granddaughter. She just hoped that if she needed help with something Rika would come to her for advice.

"Rika dear." began Seiko.

"Yeah grandma?" asked Rika

"I almost forgot to mention this but next Friday we will be having a guest for dinner so I'll want you home early, understand?" She asked.

"Yeah I understand grandma." Rika replied not really paying attention to what her grandmother was telling her expecting it was an old friend of hers from the good old days or that her mother would be bringing a new boyfriend home, _'Hopefully it's the first one.'_

Making her way to her bed Rika couldn't get the events of the day out of her head, especially thoughts of one whiskered blond. She didn't understand him, he interfered in her fight with the goggle head and his pet dino and then the next day challenges her to fight while preaching that one should fight to protect that which is precious to the tamer with the Terriermon.

'_Then he risked his life to save me.' _thought Rika. She didn't hold any delusions that Renamon would have reached her in time she knew that the chance of her dying were very real. And yet Naruto was able to get her out of there when he shouldn't be anywhere near fast enough. _'Then how could he?'_ Rika asked herself.

Then there was the fact that he had two partners instead of one and the fact that one of them was able to put Renamon on edge just by being there, as far as she knew anyway. And lastly it was the look in his eyes while he held her, she might have been coming down from the shock that she was alive but she was sure that his eyes were glowing as he stared down Gargomon but when he looked down at her his eyes looked normal.

Rika refused to think about the warmth that surrounded her body while he held her. It was nothing important she told herself though a part of her, a very small part, wanted to know the reason behind the warmth. What she definitely knew was that there was something different about the blond something outside the normal.

'_And I'm going to figure out what it is.'_ thought Rika as she lay down in her bed** (AN: Or whatever it is.)** and fell asleep a few minutes later.

Up on the rooftop of Rika's home Renamon sat staring up at the night sky as she tried to figure the blond out. She couldn't figure out why she reacted like she did toward the blond. The subconscious part of her knew what it was but it always remained out of reach so she couldn't figure out what it was.

'_Just who are you Naruto Uzumaki?'_

* * *

In the Hypnos building the MIB wannabe sat in a chair under the monitor that covered the entire ceiling of the room, watching the two women above him work as he continued to open and close his lighter the sound from it clicking reverting throughout the room.

"Riley stats report." the blonde said to one of the women above him.

"Sir no new wild ones have crossed over in the last two days." the women with long hair, the now named Riley, answered.

"And what of the two that came through the other day." he asked though it didn't seem like a question.

Riley typed at the keyboard before she answered the question. "We haven't received any reports on any digimon citing so far it all seems quite so far." She replied

The blond man closed his lighter with a click as he stood up staring at the monitor above that kept watch over the digital world and any digimon trying to cross over. "That's not good enough we must find those abominations and capture them before the public becomes aware of their existence." He answered his tone caring a hint of irritation.

"Um… Yamaki sir." began the women with short hair hesitation clear in her voice.

"What is it Tally?" Yamaki replied in a harsher tone than was needed.

Tally flinched at her boss's voice, unlike her co-worker she didn't have the same confidence when it came to dealing with their boss, "Well, while there hasn't been any digimon citied there have been some reports of destruction happening in the city that can't' be explained."

"Where?" he asked simply

"The most notable one happened today; an underground parking lot had some of the automobiles destroyed along with some damage to the walls and pillars of the parking lot, which no one can explain. The only other incident happened yesterday in the park; a fence suffered some serious damage that once again can't be explained." Tally replied.

"I see." was Yamaki's only response as he made his way out of the room while he pulled out his cell phone. _'The park is the perfect place to hide for those monsters during the day I'll need to get a team together and check out the area.' _Yamaki thought sure that he finally had a solid lead on where the digimon that crossed over where hiding.

* * *

**AN: Ok I'm ending this here. This has been the longest chapter I've written though I didn't intend for it to happen. And sorry for those who have been waiting on me to update this story.**

**Please review and let me know what you think.**


	4. The Will to Fight

**AN: Oh man it's been a while hasn't it like three or four months at least. It's just I've been busy but my computer died on me forcing me to rewrite what I had already got done on my laptop only for it to crash on me a few weeks later luckily I was smart enough to save everything this time. **

**By the way at the end of the story there is Author Note some of you might be interested in so I suggest reading it.**

**Alright now for the disclaimer I do NOT own anything to do with Naruto or Digimon or anything else that may or may not appear in this fic. Now please enjoy the next chapter of Shinobi of the Digital Hazard.**

* * *

The Will to Fight

"Talking"  
_'Thinking'  
_**"Megidramon" **_  
_**(Author Note)**

"Alright team with have them on the ropes now!" A boy with brown hair that spiked upwards with a white shirt and shorts yelled.

"Umm… Kazu?" A glasses wearing boy that seemed to have green tinted hair in reminiscence of a bowl cut asked nervously

"What is it Kenta can't you see I'm leading my team to victory." The now known Kazu replied with his hands on his waist in the classic superhero pose.

"Well were losing." Kenta answered in a deadpan voice as he pointed toward the scoreboard.

Not believing what his friend was saying Kazu turned toward the scoreboard before his face shifted to a surprised look with his mouth hanging open and his eyes bugging out. "10 to 0, how the heck are we so far behind?" Kazu half shouted half asked.

Walking up toward his longtime friends Takato in a similar outfit as the two other boys; his signature goggles missing from their usual place on top of his head. He was panting slightly as he whipped the sweat from his forehead, "I'm pretty sure that it's because they have Naruto on their team Kazu." Takato answered.

At the mention of the blond the three boys turned to look toward the soccer field where Naruto was currently making his way down the field. Naruto was wearing the same thing as the rest of them only with a red jersey to signify that he was on the opposing team. One of the other players moved in front of Naruto in order to stop him only to watch as the soccer ball went over his head, he was so distracted watching the ball he forgot about Naruto until he was behind him and in possession of the ball once more. At this point one of the players on Kazu's team tried to steal the ball by coming in from the side only for the ball and Naruto to jump over him as if he wasn't even there. And this is how it continued with Naruto making his way down the field weaving pass the other players, and by looks of it with little effort, before making it to the opposing team's last line of defense. With only the goalie in the way Naruto kicked the ball and it quickly made its way toward the goal with the goalie jumping in an effort to stop it. Unfortunately, for the goalie, the ball hit the ground right before the goal with a spin resulting in it going in the opposite direction than it was originally.

"Dudes now it's 11 to 0," Kazu exclaimed as he grabbed his hair on the verge of pulling it out, "And did you see that move; how is that even possible?"

"Yeah that was incredible!" Kenta voiced his opinion with equal amount of awe and shock.

"Well I did try to warn you this might happen when teams were being made Kazu." Takato said in a tone that just oozed I told you so.

"Wait! You knew he could do this." Kazu asked with a sense of betrayal as he pointed an accusing finger at Takato.

"Maybe, yeah, sort of," Takato answered hesitantly.

It was now Monday during the only part of the school day that the students actually enjoyed besides lunch, no wait during lunch the school lunch ladies tried to feed them that mutated food that made Naruto wish he could fight Madara again rather than eat it, P.E. where Ms. Asaji had decided to give them a free day while she dealt with the headache that came with trying to teach hormone driven teenagers. It was quickly decided by the guys of the class that they would play a game of soccer with a few girls joining in and those who didn't want to play went to sit off to the side to talk with friends about what they did over the weekend and watch the game.

By some miracle of Kami Kazu was made captain of the white team where he quickly chose Kenta and Takato to be on his team claiming that as best friends they had to stick together. When it finally came time to decide what team Naruto would be on Kazu didn't waste a second in letting the red team captain, Shiro Miyazaki, have him. Though Takato tried to warn his friend considering how fast Naruto was from the other day Kazu just ignored it.

"But how is he doing this? I mean he's supposed to be smart from the way he was able to answer all of Ms. Asaji's questions on Friday so he shouldn't be good at things like sports." Kazu said trying to find an explanation for what was happening before him.

"Wait? What does Naruto being smart have anything to do with the fact that he's good at sports?" Takato asked; confused with what his longtime friend just said.

"Smart people aren't supposed to have any athletic ability it's why they're smart, it's like some unwritten rule or something. Like how Kenta won't ever get a girl to date him." This got an offended "Hey" from their glasses wearing friend.

"So wait the only reason you didn't pick Naruto to be on our team was because he was smart?" asked Takato not completely sure about the "logic" his friend decided to use.

Kazu nodded his head as if he just proved his point, "Yup, I mean if we wanted to impress the girls we had to have the best right."

"Well they're definitely impressed, just not with us." Takato said as he stared off toward were most of the girls in the class were sitting. Hearing what his friend said Kazu turned to see that most of the girls of the class were all staring at Naruto with hearts in their eyes.

"How the hell is he that good!" Kazu exclaimed before a fire ignited in his eyes, "Well so what as captain of this team I'll lead us to victory no matter what the challenge." With that Kazu ran toward the field intent on changing how the game will end.

Seeing their friend rush off Takato and Kenta spared each other a glance before sighing simultaneously and following after him at a more sedate pace. _'This can't end well.'_ Was the shared thought between the two friends.

* * *

In the end the score was 15 to 1 in favor of the red team, obviously. Kazu was actually able to come through for his team when the ball bounced off the back of his head, knocking him out for a few minutes as a result, before it went into the red team's goal. Due to the unexpected score it took everyone a couple of minutes before going to help Kazu at which point Ms. Asaji ended the game.

By the end of the day everyone was talking about the game do to the grapevine. Everyone would stop to congratulate Naruto and he was even offered a position on the soccer team by its captain which he politely turned down. And, though Naruto didn't know it, girls from his class were quickly forming their own fan-club dedicated to him, which was quickly gaining members.

Naruto was already at the gate getting ready to head home when he heard someone call his name.

"Naruto!"

Turning around Naruto saw that Takato, goggles once again on his head, was the one who called him as he was quickly made his way toward him, "Hey Takato need something?" he asked.

"I wanted to see if you were up for a look around the city for anything interesting with me and Henry." Takato replied once he was close enough to the blond.

"Sorry Takato, but I should get home and make sure that Coronamon hasn't burned the place down yet. Patamon can only make him behave for so long." Naruto said with an apologetic smile.

Takato nodded his head in understanding, "That's okay how about we meet up at Guilmon's shed, then we can continue to teach you how to play the card game."

Naruto grinned, his fox like grin as he quickly agreed, "Sure thing. Now I should really get going." With those parting words Naruto waved goodbye to the goggle wearing teen as he walked away in the direction of his apartment.

As Takato waited by the gate, after watching Naruto leave, in order to meet up with Henry he couldn't help but hear the conversation that was happening between a few girls that were close by.

"Hey did you see the guy who just left?" asked the first.

"You mean the blond with the whisker marks? Don't tell me he's…" The second girl asked back.

The first nodded her head and replied, "Yeah that was Naruto Uzumaki, the one everyone has been talking about today."

"Really, so he's the one who dominated the soccer game that you had in your class today?" The third one asked in an amazed tone.

"Not only that but he's really smart, Ms. Asaji gave us a pop quiz today and Uzumaki-kun was finished before 10 minutes even passed."

"10 minutes that's amazing that quiz was really hard and nearly took me all the allowed time to finish." A fourth girl said as she joined into the conversation the other three girls were having.

"So, Uzumaki-kun is handsome, smart, and very good at sports if today's game was anything to go by, and he is so nice to everyone…" The first girl said as she counted off all of Naruto's traits on her hand.

In unison all the girls that had gathered let out a dreamy sigh before saying, "He's perfect." in a similar manner.

"Who's perfect?" asked a girl that Takato was sure was from a grade of above theirs.

"Naruto Uzumaki." The girls answered at the same time still carrying that dream like tone to it.

"The cute blond one with the whiskers?" one of the older girls friends questioned after seeing her friend walk over.

"You know I'm failing math do you think Uzumaki-kun would mind tutoring me?" asked one of the girls.

"I don't think so seeing as he will be too busy helping me study for my science class." Another girl replied.

"You two can ask him to help you study all you like but it won't matter in the end seeing as I'll be the one to asking him out on a date." A girl with dark blue hair and lavender eyes added as she crossed her arms under her, admittedly, impressive bust which only served to emphasize their size.

"I don't think so Yui I was the one who saw him first." A fourth girl said hotly while staring at her friend.

With that Takato watched as more and more girls came together to talk about the new blond that came to the school a couple days ago. Only to start insulting each other with every discouraging remark known to mankind. Well at least they weren't hitting each other…

SLAP

…Well should have seen that one coming. And so let it be known that on this day the Naruto Uzumaki fan-club was officially founded so it has been written so it shall be.

As Takato waited by the gate watching the girls fight each other Henry walked up to his goggle wearing friend, having finished talking to his teacher about an extra credit assignment. "Hey Takato, what's going on?" Henry asked referring to the group of girls that were still fighting with one another.

Shaking his head Takato answered with a simple, "You don't wanna know." Before a green rabbit dog thing fell out of the tree that was located by the gate and landing on his tamer shoulder his ear holding on to the boy's right shoulder to keep him from falling off.

"What does it look like Henry? It's obviously a catfight, hey maybe if you guys are lucky they'll start to tear each other's clothes off." The digi-rabbit finished with a light snicker.

"Terriermon." Henry said warningly.

Terriermon waved his tamers warning off dismissively, "Momentai Henry I was only kidding… mostly." Replied Terriermon adding the last part in a whisper though he knew Henry heard by the annoyed sound Henry made.

"So I'm guessing Naruto won't be joining us." Henry stated more than asked upon seeing that the blond tamer wasn't there.

Takato nodded his head in confirmation before answering, "Yeah he said he had to go home to make sure that Coronamon hasn't burned down his apartment."

Henry nodded his head in understanding. He had once left Terriermon home alone only to return a few hours later to find his room a complete disaster because Terriermon claimed to be looking for his secret stash do to boredom, what stash the Rookie digimon talking about Henry never did find out being too scared to ask him. It's also the main reason that Henry now takes Terriermon with him where ever he goes when there is no one home. "Should we get going then?" Henry asked.

"Yeah let's go." Takato answered as they made their way toward downtown Shinjuku. As they left the school grounds Takato couldn't help but look back one last time at the fighting group of girls that had grown in numbers since the last he looked, _'I'm not sure if I should be jealous of Naruto or feel sorry for him.'_ He watched as one girl finally decided to go look for the whiskered blond. One of other the girls guessing her intentions had quickly voiced it to the rest as they all began their search for the schools most desirable boy. _'No, I should definitely feel sorry for you Naruto.'_ Were Takato's final thoughts on the subject.

* * *

Quite a few blocks away Naruto felt a sudden shiver go down his back, and not the good kind he got when he thought of … Uh never mind. Naruto shook his head trying to get his mind off the feeling of dread. _'I'm probably over reacting over nothing, yeah that's it just over reacting I mean I've fought Madara and Orochimaru and they're nothing compared to this… this feeling. There couldn't be anything worse than a psychotic old man and a gay pedophile, right?'_ Naruto thought trying to reassure himself but he couldn't help the small voice of doubt at the back of his head whispering to him that he was doomed.

As he made his way home after shaking away his previous thoughts Naruto focused on the real reason he decided not to go with Takato and Henry into the city. While he was heading toward his apartment he didn't have to worry about Coronamon burning the place down seeing as he left a Shadow Clone to study up on data manipulation so he could begin to learn how to use the Digital Hazard, and if he really wanted to get home quickly he could always run their in a couple of minutes or use the Shunshin no Jutsu.

No the reason Naruto refused their company was to think about all that happened in the last few days. Sure he had thought about it before but it wasn't until now that he realized what it all implied. He was in a different world, a different dimension even, and he had effectively lost everything he cared about, he could never go home, never see his friends again, and the dream he aspired to achieve all his life was now forever out of his reach.

It wasn't that he was ungrateful for what the Four Great Dragons had done for him; on the contrary he was very grateful after all it was this or be stuck in an endless void until he died. But that didn't keep him from missing his home and everyone there. He knew that with time he would get over it but until then he would miss it all very much. _'I need to get my mind off these depressing thoughts and the only way to do that is with the food of the gods, the food that wars all through time are started over, RAMEN!'_ And with that our favorite blond ramen addict sped up his pace home cutting through the park to get there faster.

When he reached the park he quickly noticed the black vans that were parked near the park, _'If that doesn't scream secret government agencies then I don't know what will and I'm not even from here and I figured it out.'_ Naruto decided to stay hidden and spy on what these guys were doing seeing as potentially involve him and the others._ 'Considering what happened here a couple of days ago it's not that surprising that the government would want someone to investigate the happenings that occurred. The question is do they already know about the existence of digimon?'_

As Naruto watched them he saw that a few scientists were gathering data on the surrounding area were the tamers meet for the first time. The typical guard that is more brawn than brain, to keep civilians away from the area they were in. Finally Naruto saw a man in a black business suit with short blond hair in a style similar to his own only messier with dark shades and a liter. Just by the way the man walked Naruto knew he was the one in charge, his stance just screamed "I'm better than you." to the world. After a while they started to pack up their gear and Naruto decided to come out of his hiding spot up in a tree to see if he could get any additional information.

"Wow it isn't every day that you see government agents out and about."

Hearing the voice Yamaki stopped and turned to see a teen with blond hair whisker marks with what he swore were slitted cerulean eyes. He had on black cargo pants with steel toed combat boots, white shirt with a dark orange hooded jacket that had black lining the edge and two belts that crossed each other forming an 'x'. "And what makes you think that we're government agents?"

Naruto smiled in amusement as if the Yamaki's question should have an obvious answer which it did, "I don't know; maybe it was the imposing black vans, the big guards keeping everyone out you know should really reconsider what you're paying them seeing as they couldn't keep 16 yr. old out or the scientist in hazmat suits. Take your pick." Naruto replied.

"I see… and who exactly are you?" the older blond asked.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders before answering, "Just a concerned citizen of Shinjuku."

Yamaki took a second to take in Naruto's words knowing that he evaded the true purpose of the question, _'Not that it matt_ers _if it was really important I could have either Riley or Tally bring up this kid's birth records and any other necessary information.'_ "Well let me put you at ease then there is nothing you should be concerned about."

"Oh really now? Those scientist in the hazmat suits say otherwise, for all I know there could be some deadly disease in the air threatening to kill everyone in the city." Naruto shot back.

Now Yamaki was getting annoyed this kid was wasting his time, time he could be using either to search for those digital abominations or looking over any available data to help him further improve his juggernaut program. "I can assure you that, that is not the case and it was simply a precaution that we are forced to take."

"Is that so, but that still leaves the question on what you're doing here doesn't it?" Naruto questioned, "From what I can see it can either be about the dented fence," he said gesturing to the dented fence Guilmon was knocked into the other day, "or something to do with the Digimon card you picked up." Naruto continued as he pointed to the card Yamaki placed in his pants pocket, "And considering that destruction of public party seems something that the police would take care of I'm guessing it has something to do with digimon." Naruto concluded.

It was subtle, so subtle that unless you knew what to look for and had been doing it for a while you wouldn't have been able to pick it up. But when Naruto mentioned digimon he noticed that Yamaki tensed for just a split second before relaxing again. _'So he does know something, though what he knows and what he'll do with that knowledge is the question.'_

"Aren't you the observant one." Yamaki stated more than asked.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders again before answering, "Something I learned over the years, and it's a necessary skill to have if you don't want to be made the fool."

Yamaki made no move to acknowledge Naruto's remark before replying, "In any case I am not at liberty to discuss matters that concern the government with any random citizen, no matter how concerned they might be."

Naruto placed his hands behind his head as he gained a thoughtful look and looked up towards the sky, "Hmm, I guess that is true. Well then I'll leave you to your work then." Naruto said as he made his leave, "Take care Agent-san and keep up the good work I guess." _'I doubt I'd have been able to get any more information out of him without making him more suspicious of me then he probably already is.'_ Naruto thought sparing a subtle glance back toward Yamaki from the corner of his eye looking forward once again, _'Now the question I should ask myself is I should tell Henry and Takato about this… No I don't have enough information on this yet so there wouldn't be a point in making them worry on what could amount to being nothing.'_

As Yamaki watched Naruto leave he decided that he would have Riley bring up all available information on the blond. There was something about the kid that unsettled Yamaki a bit and he wanted to make sure he knew everything he could about the young blond teen before any conclusions were made.

* * *

Having finished his little chat with Yamaki Naruto had immediately made his way to his apartment. The second Naruto entered he was greeted by both his partner digimon.

"Hey guys, what's up?" questioned Naruto.

"We're bored Naruto we've been stuck in here all day." Answered Coronamon with a bit of the frustration he felt making its self-known.

Patamon nodded his head in agreement, "Yeah, there is nothing to do here." He added.

"Well then you two are in luck we'll be meeting up with Takato and the others in a bit," Naruto began causing both digimon to cheer, "After I eat some ramen." He finished causing both digimon to face plant.

"WHAT!" exclaimed Coronamon.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Naruto asked confusedly when he registered their reactions.

"What's wrong? What's wrong is that you had six bowls of ramen before you left for school this morning!"

"So?"

"So," Patamon continued, "you then came back during lunch to eat three more bowls of ramen." He finished.

"Hey that's not my fault. The stuff they're trying to pass off as food is worse than anything the T&I division back home could come up with." Naruto said before shuddering at a thought _'Well not the worst thing.'_ Naruto thought as memories of two spandex clad men came to the fore front of his mind. "Don't worry guys I'll just eat a couple of bowls and then we'll be on our way, alright?"

Coronamon just crossed his arms and looked off to the side muttering a quiet "Whatever," Before Coronamon pointed a finger at Naruto. "Just be quick about it." Coronamon said in a commanding tone.

Naruto gave a mock salute before answering in a teasing tone. "Hai, Hai Coronamon-sama."

Coronamon simply turned back in the direction of the living room before speaking to his fellow digimon. "Come on Patamon we might as well watch some TV while we wait."

Patamon simply nodded his head before following; all the while thinking that as far as tamers go a ramen addict was still better than a total newb, a pacifist, and a girl who made a rampaging Monochromon look tame.

Naruto watched both his partners with amusement before heading to the kitchen, _'Wonder how they would react if they knew I've actually been eating less ramen than I normally do.'_

After having finished his ramen and putting the bowls away Naruto made his way to his room to grab his card holster and see how the Shadow Clone he left behind was progressing with learning about data manipulation.

"So how is it coming along?" he asked.

The Shadow Clone didn't bother responding preferring to dispel itself and let the memories of what it learned going back to Naruto.

_'Hm.'_ Thought Naruto as he massaged his temples to strive off any unwanted headaches._ 'Not as much progress as I would've wanted but at least it's something.'_ He let out a sigh as he made another clone to continue studying up on data manipulation before he made his way to the living room.

From what Naruto learned all data was made of a sequence of 1's and 0's known as binary code. But that was the easy part the hard part was actually split in two steps; the first step of data manipulation was being able to scan the binary code of any object or being. The second step is being able to understand binary code perfectly and how to rearrange it to what he desired it to be or do. **(AN: Have no idea what I just said or how much of it is right.)** So the beginning of his studies will focus mostly on being able to understand binary though if what he understood from what Megidramon had told him about the Digital Hazard it will help speed up the process.

Naruto shook his head to get rid of the thoughts for now though he couldn't help but notice the slight tingle in his left hand. "Alright guys we can head out now." He called out.

"It's about time we've been waiting for ages." Coronamon complained only to receive a slap on the back of his head from one of Patamon's wings.

"He means we're ready whenever you are Naruto." Patamon clarified ignoring the glare Coronamon was sending him.

Naruto chuckled as he watched the two Rookie level digimon interact as they walked out of the apartment. He made sure to lock it on his way out though not really worried with the Shadow Clone he left behind being able to handle any would be thief that tried to steal anything from his apartment.

Naruto walked down the street heading toward the park Patamon riding on top of his head and Coronamon, as he preferred, following from the roof tops. As he looked around he couldn't help but still be amazed at the sheer size of Shinjuku and its buildings. The only thing that came to mind that could compare to the city from back home being the Five Great Ninja villages.

A cry of "Naruto!" knocked the blond out of his thoughts as he turned to see who called him.

"Takato?" questioned Naruto with a raised eyebrow. "What's up; I was just on my way to the park."

The goggle wearing tamer stopped in front of the blond Shinobi gasping for air with his hands on his knees. "It's… Henry."

"What? Did something happen to Henry?" Naruto asked in a slightly more alarmed tone at the possibility of his friend being hurt.

Takato took a few more seconds to catch his breath before he was able to respond. "We were on our way to the park when a digital field showed up out of nowhere and started chasing us. When we split up it kept going after Henry." Takato took a quick breath before finishing up. "I was on my way to get Guilmon when I ran into you."

After hearing Takato's explanation Naruto quickly unclipped his D-arc which screen had changed into that of its tracker function which had a red arrow of sorts that pointing in the same direction Takato had come from. "Ok looks like I got a signal on its location." Naruto said before he looked back up toward Takato, "I'll go back up Henry while you hurry and get Guilmon."

"Right, I'll get there as soon as I can." Takato replied as he ran off towards the park.

"Ready to kick some digi-butt, Patamon?" Naruto asked as he took off in the direction the field was located.

"I'm ready Naruto." Patamon answered as he made sure he wouldn't fall off from his perch on top of Naruto's head.

Naruto nodded, "Then lets hurry something tells me Henry will need all the help he can get." Naruto said back as he sped up but made sure that Coronamon could still keep up. A few minutes later Naruto found the digital field at a construction site.

"Looks like they've started without us," Naruto stated as he pulled out orange tinted sunglasses and put them on. "Ready to join the fun Patamon… Coronamon?" Naruto asked.

Coronamon had jumped down from the roof tops once they came into an unpopulated area and was now running beside his tamer with his eyes solely fixated on the building that was in front of them that had now become a battleground. Both digimon nodded their heads their eyes reflecting the determination they felt as they concentrated on helping out their friends.

When the three passed through the field they saw what appeared to be a giant white haired gorilla that had a cannon for a left arm. Naruto could see both Terriermon and Henry directly across from them, Terriermon in front of Henry prepared to protect his tamer from the impending threat the newly biomerged digimon posed.

"Boom Bubble!"

"Corona Flame!"

The giant ape was hit from behind by both Coronamon and Patamon distracting it enough from his target. Turning around the digital prime ape growled at the two newly arrived digimon that were getting in the way of him and its prey. It lifted its left arm and gathered energy into its cannon preparing to fire.

"Terrier Tornado," Terriermon cried out. With the attention no longer on him it had given Terriermon the perfect chance to attack.

The small twister was able to hit the champion level digimon, not expecting an attack from Terriermon the enemy digimon was caught by surprise which resulted in it being thrown off to the side by the tornado. Naruto took this opportunity to cross the distance between himself and Henry.

"Hey there Henry I heard from a certain goggle head that you might be in need of some help." Naruto said lightly as if what was happening wasn't that big of a deal.

"Well if you're offering who am I to refuse." Henry replied with a slight smile glad that he and Terriermon would have some help dealing with the situation.

Naruto grinned as he brought up his D-arc to scan the mystery digimon. "Alright, let's see who we're dealing with… So this is Gorillamon huh? He's a Champion level digimon and a Data type. Attacks are Power Lifting and Energy Cannon, not much in the brains department by the looks of it." Naruto read, "This wouldn't be the same Gorillamon that you told us about the other day about would it Henry?" Naruto asked.

Henry frowned as he watched Gorillamon get back on his feet, "Definitely looks that way." He answered grimly.

"Well I guess there is no helping it then," Naruto said his grin almost becoming feral in appearance, "Coronamon, Patamon show that overgrown monkey what you're made of."

"Wait Naruto you can't be serious!" Henry exclaimed, "You can't attack him for no good reason, if we try to talk to him I'm sure that we can figure something out without fighting."

Naruto sighed in disapproval before he spared Henry a glance. "Think about what is going Henry. You said it yourself and the proof is right in front of you Gorillamon crossed over from the Digital world just to find Terriermon, why do you think that is?"

"But-" Henry began only for Naruto to cut him off.

"-You can't hesitate when it comes to things like this Henry." Naruto said forcefully, "No matter what you say Gorillamon's mind is set on getting revenge on Terriermon. He can't be reasoned with and if you keep trying it will only end up costing you." He finished as memories of his best friend came to the front of his mind and what he eventually he became. _'Some people can't be helped no matter how hard one tries to.'_

Before Henry could reply they both watched as Gorillamon fired an Energy Cannon at the trio of digimon who were just able to escape being hit by the attack by jumping away from the immediate blast area. Seeing that his initial attack had failed Gorillamon charged the closest of the three which just happened to be Coronamon. Gorillamon jumped into the air both fists raised above his head and as he came down he swung them down hoping to smash Coronamon.

Coronamon was just able to dodge Gorillamon's fists, which left cracks on the floor, by jumping to the side but wasn't able to get out of the way in time as Gorillamon swung his arm out hitting Coronamon in the gut and sent him flying before he hit the ground.

Seeing his friend hit the ground Terriermon attacked with his Bunny Blast. Knowing he was the target for the attack Gorillamon rolled to the side in order to dodge before he lifted up his cannon arm and taking aim.

"Energy Cannon!" The attack only missed Terriermon by a hair as he had ran off to the side in order to avoid the Champion level digimon's attack.

"Boom Bubble."Patamon launched his signature attack hitting Gorillamon in the back of his head causing him to kneel as he groaned in pain as he held his head.

Having been given enough time to recover Coronamon stood back up and rejoined the fight his Coro Knuckle in full blaze. He landed a couple of successive hits before Gorillamon got his guard up protecting himself from any series damage. Coronamon seeing that he no longer could do much in terms of close range jumped back while summoning a fireball, "Corona Flame." Coronamon yelled as he threw it directly toward Gorillamon's face.

When the Corona Flame hit it caused a small explosion the smoke temporarily hiding Gorillamon from view. When the smoke started to clear everyone was witness to the results of the attack. The fireball had left some scorch marks but besides that there wasn't that much evidence to any damage.

"Oh come on that didn't even faze him." Whined Coronamon

"Look at the bright side Coronamon; now, thanks to you, he is a whole lot better looking." Terriermon joked.

Gorillamon growled when he heard this and focused his sight on the small little rabbit digimon plans on what to he was going to do to the annoying pest already forming in his mind.

"Terriermon." Henry said in an exasperated tone while still conveying his warning to his partner.

"Momentai Henry it's not like he's smart enough to know what I'm saying." Terriermon replied in the same joking manner as before.

"Enough; Energy Cannon!" Gorillamon snapped as he charged his cannon arm fully intending to obliterate Terriermon.

"Boom Bubble!"

"Corona Flame!"

Thanks to the combined attacks of both Patamon and Coronamon Gorillamon's attack was held back long enough for Terriermon to get out of the way before he could have been hit. Growling in frustration Gorillamon rushed forward.

"Power Lifting." He yelled as he closed in on Patamon.

"Quick Patamon try and block it with your Slamming Attack!" Naruto said hurriedly as he watched on as his partner was about to be hit by the Champion level digimon's attack.

Reacting quickly at his tamers command Patamon began to spin around in midair as he charged up the required energy for his Slamming attack. He was just able to get his attack fully charged when Gorillamon slammed his fist into it. For a moment the two were at a stalemate as they tried to push the other back but eventually the two attacks pressing against each other resulted in an explosion that sent both back.

_'So it's like I thought.' _Naruto mused to himself as he watched the results of the collision, _'Patamon's Slamming attack is similar to the Hyuuga's Kaiten and if we work on it we might be able to make it a good defensive move.'_

With Gorillamon still recovering from the explosion Terriermon took the chance to do his own damage on the giant ape. "Terrier Tornado" The whirlwind made a direct hit lifting Gorillamon off the floor before sending him crashing into an iron pillar.

Picking himself up Gorillamon growled in frustration as he watched the three Rookie digimon stand next to each other. It was supposed to be simple crossover into the real world, find Terriermon, and delete him while his tamer just stood there too frightened to do anything. But instead he was met with three additional annoyances that were proving to be a handle full, he was still stronger than them but that meant next to nothing when you're outnumbered and have to deal with them covering for each other.

"Pyro Sphere!"

It was only due to Gorillamon's battle hardened instincts that came with living in the Digital World's Southern quadrant was he able to dodge the fireball that would have caught him by surprise at the last minute. Looking for the source of the attack only served to further agitate Gorillamon as he watched a new digimon he didn't recognize join up with the others as another human child made his way toward the other two.

_'And now there are four.'_ Gorillamon thought on the verge of tearing his own fur out in frustration at how much more complicated this had become now that he had to deal with four opponents.

"Hey guys sorry I took so long, are you all alright?" asked Takato concerned that one of his friends might have been hurt while he had been gone getting Guilmon.

"Don't worry Takato we're fine just kicking some furry monkey butt up and down this construction sight." Naruto reassured his friend before he turned toward Henry a series look back in his eyes. "So Henry have you decided yet; will you fight or will you continue to hold onto your foolish beliefs that everything can be resolved without conflict."

Henry didn't even bother answering because there wasn't a choice to be made he knew what he had to do. Throughout this fight he watched as Gorillamon would attack the others without restraint, but there was something else that wasn't so obvious. Even now against four opponents he watched as Gorillamon would focus on attacking Terriermon the most. He wasn't ignoring the others in favor of Terriermon but there was no doubt in Henry's mind that Gorillamon wouldn't stop until Terriermon was deleted. Henry didn't have any more time to contemplate the situation because at that moment Gorillamon's frustration had reached its limit.

"Energy Cannon!"Gorillamon roared. The problem was that he wasn't aiming at any of the digimon but at their human tamers. Naruto saw the attack coming and thanks to his Shinobi training was able to push Takato and Henry out of the way before jumping away himself in the opposite direction he had thrown his two friends.

"Hey where the hell are you aiming at?" Naruto yelled.

Gorillamon practically growled his response, "Damn humans it's because of you that this had become so difficult."

"Come on now don't blame us if you're too weak to handle a few Rookies." Naruto shot back.

Gorillamon growled again before he lifted his left arm again and prepared to take aim. Seeing that Gorillamon was now targeting them finally made Henry see just how dangerous the situation really was and made him realize that there was no chance they could convince Gorillamon to stop.

"Terriermon you have to stop him!" Henry told his partner.

"What do you think we've been doing?" Terriermon replied in a more serious manner now that Gorillamon was actively threatening Henry and the others.

Guilmon rushed in intending to slam into other digimon only for Gorillamon to jump to the side in order to avoid the attack. Lifting his cannon arm Gorillamon only began to gather the necessary energy to fire his cannon when he fired with the little energy he had gathered resulting in multiple shots that hit Guilmon's back but because it lacked the vast energy the usual Energy Cannon carried it did little damage but still resulted in Guilmon falling forward. Gorillamon was about to fire a fully charged Energy Cannon when he heard Coronamon and Patamon launch their attacks at him from behind.

"Corona Flame"

"Boom Bubble."

Only for the two attacks to miss again when he again jumped to the side in order to dodge. When he landed he aimed at the two digimon and fired what little energy he had been able to gather forcing them to move away or risk being hit.

"Bunny Blast." Terriermon shot his own attack right after Gorillamon fired his catching him by surprise and effectively knocking him on his back.

When Gorillamon opened his eyes he saw Guilmon coming down on him with his arm appearing to be on fire.

"Rock Breaker!"

Gorillamon was forced to roll to the side or be hit by Guilmon's attack. Standing back up Gorillamon tried to hit Guilmon with his Power Lifting attack only to have it blocked by Guilmon's Rock Breaker before the two digimon jumped away from each other and the resulting explosion that followed. Once he landed he watched as the four digimon regrouped with one another.

* * *

"What does it take to get this guy to stay down?" Takato asked as he and Henry stood on the second floor of the construction site in order to be better protected from the fight while still being able to see what is going on. "We've hit him with everything we have and he either dodges it or ignores it like its nothing."

Henry was also worried; he knew that if Terriermon were to digivolve they could probably win but he was afraid that if that were to happen, that Terriermon would lose control again like he did the other day. "I don't know Takato we don't seem to have a lot of options."

"Maybe if Terriermon digivolved into Gargomon we could beat Gorillamon." Takato suggested.

"NO! I won't allow it." Henry replied forcefully.

"But Henry…"

"No Takato. I understand that the only way to get out of this mess is to fight Gorillamon but I won't allow Terriermon to digivolve. I just won't." Henry said as he looked down at the grown "Maybe a modify card." He suggested at the end.

"Okay," Takato said understandingly, "but I don't think any of the cards I have will help us here. I actually think Kazu gives me some of these cards so he can use on me later." Takato finished as he pulled out his cards and began to look through them. Henry also brought his own cards out but knew he didn't have anything with him that could possibly help him.

_'This is bad none of these cards are of any use to us.'_ Henry thought frantically as he searched for a card that would get him and the others out of this situation. As he continued to search for a useful card Henry saw out of the corner of his eye as Takato accidently dropped a card. Picking it up Henry saw what it was, _'Training Grips?'_

Takato looked over and saw what card Henry had picked up, "Oh that's the card Kazu gave me today he said it was to help train Rookie digimon or something like that but I don't think that can't help us with this."

"No," Henry shook his head as an idea came to him, "This is exactly what we need if we can get Gorillamon to hold still for a second." He said as he watched as Gorillamon continued to dodge their digimon's attacks while throwing his own whenever he got the chance.

Takato nodded his head in understanding deciding to trust his friend when he suddenly blinked in realization before he looked around, "Hey where's Naruto?" he asked. This caught Henry by surprise as he had forgotten all about his blond friend while he watched the digimon fight.

"I don't know after he pushed us out of the way of the Energy Cannon he sort of disappeared on us." Henry replied.

"I hope he's not hurt." Takato said worriedly.

"I'm sure that he's fine Takato, Naruto doesn't seem to be the type to be taken down so easily." Henry tried to reassure his goggle wearing friend. Takato simply nodded his head in acceptance but the worry for his friend was still evident in his eyes.

The blond Shinobi in question was actually still on the first floor of the construction site watching from the shadows observing the fight and trying to figure out a way to help without the others finding out his secrets. _'But if there is no other choice I won't let some stupid secret keep me from helping my friends.'_ Naruto thought. He was able to hear what Henry and Takato had planned thanks to his enhanced senses and knew that if something didn't happen soon he would provide them with the necessary time to use the modify card, _'But how?'_ Naruto asked himself. It wasn't until he saw Patamon get hit by Gorillamon's Energy Cannon and go his way that an idea came to him.

Moving quickly the former Jinchuriki caught his fallen partner in his arms before returning to where he had been observing the fight. "Hey Patamon, how are you holding up?" Naruto asked softly so as not to be heard by the others.

Patamon groaned as he shook the remnants of the attack off before answering, "I'm fine Naruto it'll take more than that to take me down." Though he said he was fine Naruto could tell that last attack had taken more out of Patamon then was willing to admit.

"Take it easy Patamon don't push yourself to hard, rest." Naruto replied.

Patamon shook his head, "No I'm can still fight I have to help the others." He said as he tried to fly back into the battle.

"Whoa hold on a second Patamon I have a plan and need you here in order to do it." Naruto said.

Looking at his tamer Patamon nodded his head as he waited to hear what the plan this ramen addict had come up with was. "Okay." He said.

"Alright listen I'll hit Gorillamon with one of my jutsu once I get a clear shot, all you need to do is rest and pretend to be knocked out when the others come so they'll believe it was you who did the attack when I tell them that." Naruto explained. Nodding his head in understanding Patamon dropped down onto the ground as he watched the fight progress beside his tamer.

The now trio of digimon were still holding their own even with one less fighter on their side. Guilmon being the strongest of the four Rookie digimon would be the one to mainly engage Gorillamon in close combat with Terriermon and Coronamon attacking from a distance, with Coronamon also helping in close combat when possible.

Closing in from behind Coronamon threw a punch toward Gorillamon covered in flames signifying the use of his Coro Knuckle. Gorillamon was just able to dodge the attack as it burned a bit more of his fur. Luckily Terriermon and Guilmon fired a Bunny Blast and Pyro Sphere respectively while Gorillamon was distracted. The two attacks hit sending sprawling on the ground. Terriermon tried to follow up with a Terrier Tornado only for Gorillamon to flip back so he was on his hands and feet before jumping back to fully avoid the attack. Hoping to surprise Gorillamon with a follow up attack after the Terrier Tornado Coronamon fired a Corona Flame. Gorillamon had just landed from his jump when he was hit by Coronamon's attack causing him to be thrown further back; unfortunately he managed to land on his feet and quickly charged an Energy Cannon which he then fired at all three digimon forcing them to dodge.

Seeing his chance now that Coronamon and the others could no longer be hit by accident Naruto went through a series of hand seals before announcing his attack in a whisper. "Wind Style: Air Bullet Jutsu." Naruto took a deep breath of air before releasing it in the form of a giant ball of air that raced toward Gorillamon kicking up dust as it went along.

Everyone was witness as jutsu made its way to Gorillamon at a speed that the Champion level digimon, even if he wasn't in too much shock from the sheer size, didn't have a hope of being able to get out of the way in time. The Air Bullet slammed into the surprised digimon not only sending him flying and leaving quite a bit of damage as Gorillamon was struggling to get up unlike before. Turning in the direction that the attack had come from everyone saw Naruto with Patamon once again in his arms apparently passed out, having flown into them to further help with the illusion of passing out after the attack. For a second everyone was in a state of shock as they just stared at Naruto and the "passed out" Patamon until they were snapped out of their shock by said blond.

"What are you guys doing? He's hurt this is the best chance we have in taking him out so if you got a plan do it." Naruto said.

This got Henry's attention as he realized that he was wasting valuable opportunity. Holding up both his D-arc and the modify card Henry slashed the card through the D-arc. "Digi-modify, Training Grips Activate!"

On the ground floor the Training Grips appeared on Terreirmon's ears as he returned his attention on the now risen Gorillamon. The Training Grips glowed for a second before Terriermon threw them at Gorillamon and restrained him forcing his arms close to his chest and made him kneel on the floor. For a second it seemed that the Training Grips would be enough to restrain the enraged Champion until he started to stand back up and moved his arm away from his chest with a great amount of force.

_'This guy really is strong.'_ Naruto thought as he watched what Gorillamon was doing.

"Pyro Sphere."

"Corona Flame."

Not wanting to waste any more time both fire type digimon launched their respective fireballs at the struggling ape and hit him on his exposed chest distracting him breaking the restraints that bound him. But this seemed to further enrage Gorillamon as he managed to bring his left arm down and began to gather energy for his Energy Cannon.

Terriermon seeing what Gorillamon was trying to do gathered energy for his own attack, "Bunny Blast!" he exclaimed as he aimed the attack at the concentration of energy in Gorillamon's left arm. With Gorillamon having his concentration focused fully on gathering energy and pointing his arm forward he didn't realize until it was too late at what Terriermon was aiming at. When the Bunny Blast hit the energy gathered in the cannon, it made it become unstable and explode. The explosion along with the damage he had already taken from the fight was all that Gorillamon could take and he broke down into data.

Walking over to the data of the fallen digimon Terriermon was about to absorb it before he was stopped.

"Terriermon stop!" Henry yelled from the second floor as he watched what his partner was about to do before turning to him. "I don't want you to load his data."

"But Henry…" Takato began not sure why his friend was keeping Terriermon from absorbing the data seeing as it could help him become much stronger.

Henry shook his head before he making his way to his partner and the other digimon, "Maybe if his data isn't loaded Gorillamon will come back someday as a nicer digimon." He explained himself.

"Can I at least do a victory dance, well can I?" Terriermon asked; understanding Henry's feelings and reasoning.

Henry chuckled before answering, "Maybe later Terriermon." Hearing some footsteps approaching Henry turned his head to look at Naruto who was still carrying Patamon, "Hey Naruto is Patamon okay?"

Naruto gave him a reassuring smile before looking down at his partner. "Don't worry Henry he's just tired after some rest he should be just fine."

"What happened to him?" Takato asked concerned about the little digimon.

"It was a combination of things. That last attack Gorillamon hit him with took more out of him then he thought so when I used a modify card to power up his Boom Bubble it knocked him out." Naruto explained.

"Wait so you're saying that giant attack came from Patamon?" Takato asked amazed he had never seen a Rookie level digimon launch such a big attack.

"Pretty amazing right." Naruto said as his fox like grin made its way onto his face.

"Yeah." The two male tamers replied at the same time.

At that point the digital field started to dissipate bringing everyone's attention back to the fact that they once again had a fight with a lot of explosions that were should to be heard by someone.

"I guess we should be leaving now, huh?" Takato asked.

"Yeah that sounds look like a good idea." Henry commented before looking where Naruto was not even a minute ago only to find said blond was missing.

"Hey what are you guy doing lets go." Naruto shouted back from the construction sites entrance, "Seriously what is it with you guys and wanting to be caught."

At his words the remaining group quickly chased after the laughing blond and small lion that was at his partner's side.

"Seriously how does he keep doing that?" Takato asked exasperated with the blond's antics of leaving them behind.

"Don't know but if you figure it out be sure to tell me." Henry replied.

* * *

Later that day, night had finally fallen with the moon haven come out and bathing the city of Shinjuku in its mystifying light. For many who lived in the city the day had finally come to an end and were now making their way home for a well-deserved dinner before turning in for the night. For others it was merely marked the beginning of a night full of partying for friends to unwind from the events of a stressful day. But while the city was very much awake the park was virtually empty of people except for the occasional couple out for a stroll through the park.

It was here that we find one blond former Jinjuriki and his two partner digimon. After spending a couple of hours with their friends they had gone home in order for Naruto to prepare for the training he had planned for Coronamon and Patamon. Though because this will be the first night of their training and he was still getting used to idea of being a tamer so the two digimon's tor… I mean training yeah training would be light.

Having arrived at their designated training ground deep within the park Naruto unclipped his D-arc from his belt before bringing it up and scrolling through it looking for a certain program.

_'Okay the Digital Hazard Field should activate after pressing this.'_ Naruto thought as a screen with the Digital Hazard in the background with the letters DF came up with an option for activate under it. Pressing the center button on the D-arc Naruto watched as the Digital Hazard symbol began to spin at a fast pace before a Digital field that had red tint to it appeared a few feet away from the three. _'Well that didn't take long.'_ "Come on you two lets go." Naruto said as he put on his orange tinted sunglasses before walking into the field.

"So Naruto how exactly are you going to train us?" Coronamon asked genuinely curious about what he and Patamon would be learning.

"Well I already have some idea on what we are going to be working on in regards to your attacks and how to improve them but for tonight we'll focus mostly on improving your speed, strength, stamina, etc. I might also have you either spar against me or a Shadow Clone either by yourselves or together to improve your teamwork." He said as he looked at the two of them.

"What do you want us to do then?" Patamon asked

"Well I made the Digital field big enough so you guys to be able to do some laps so I guess you guys can start by running, or in your case Patamon flying ten lapses around the field." Naruto replied to small Rookies question.

"What! Ten!" Coronamon exclaimed in shock.

Naruto nodded his head, "Yeah it will be a good warm up so get to it."

Both digimon made their way to the edge of the field before beginning their laps as Naruto began his own work out while he waited on his two digimon.

_'I can't let myself become rusty just because I won't be the one fighting most of the battles.'_ He thought beginning with some basic exercises before moving on to the more complex stuff. About 20 minutes later Coronamon and Patamon had finally finished their final lap and while they weren't on verge of passing out they were winded from their exercise. "Well…" Naruto began as he looked at the two heavily breathing digimon, "we will definitely be working on improving your stamina so you'll last longer in fights."

"Um… Naruto?"

"Yeah what is it Patamon?" questioned the blond

"Before you said we would be working on our attacks what did you mean by that?" the orange ball with wings asked.

Coronamon nodded his head in agreement, "Yeah work on what we can already can use them fine."

"True." Naruto agreed, "But what I meant was work on improving them so you guys could use them differently." Seeing that his two partners weren't getting it Naruto decided to further explain himself. "For instance the most obvious thing would be finding out how to cut down on the time necessary fire your Corona Flame and Boom Bubble attacks and make it so its rapid fire like what Gorillamon did earlier today. Another example would be how I had Patamon block Gorillamon's Power Lifting by using Slamming Attack."

"But that didn't work right Patamon was still hurt in the end." Coronamon commented.

"Yeah," Naruto once again agreed, "But he wasn't as hurt as he could be and that is exactly why we need to work on it here where there is no real danger plus so far we've only seen it in action when the attacking digimon powers up a physical hit." He explained.

The two nodded in understanding accepting their tamers reasoning and explanation both remembering their fight earlier today and their fight with Renamon a few days ago.

"Okay then now that you're rested we'll continue with you to sparing against me." Naruto said as he made his way to the center of the training field.

"But won't that be dangerous?" Patamon asked concerned that they might accidently hurt their tamer.

"Yeah, you might be fast but you can't dodge the two of us working together for long you have to get tired at some point." Coronamon added.

Naruto grinned, "I'll be fine don't worry now come on if you guys actually manage to hit me I'll cook us up something extra good for dinner when we get home."

At the mere mention of food both digimon's stomachs growled letting them know they were all for the idea of a well cooked meal.

"Alright!" Coronamon cheered, "Let's go Patamon we'll have him beat in a few minutes."

Still uncertain, though definitely looking forward to the meal, Patamon nodded his head has he got ready to fight Naruto.

And so for the next hour or so the two Rookie digimon tried to hit their tamer only to miss every time as Naruto would duck and weave through their attacks with little effort. The longer the fight went on the more frustrated Coronamon would become before attacking sloppily do to his frustration, something Naruto took note of. Patamon on the other hand didn't become as frustrated as Coronamon was so much as becoming desperate in trying to hit Naruto as he continued to fire Boom Bubbles one right after another without rest.

After a few more minutes Naruto told them that they had done enough for today and rest while he trained for bit longer. This not only surprised the two but also depressed them slightly with the knowledge that while they were tired their tamer still had enough energy to keep going. Something Naruto quickly picked up on.

"Hey come on now don't get all sad on me. This is the reason I'm training you guys so that you'll get strong enough to be able to fight anyone you meet." Naruto said as he tried to cheer them up. This got a firm nod from the two as their determination to improve and get stronger quickly solidified as they both silently promised to get stronger in order to be able to fight alongside their tamer if the need ever arose.

After finishing the last of the training regimen and Naruto taking a few minutes trying to figure out how to cancel the Digital Field through the Digital Hazard by will alone. _'Would have really helped if Megidramon told me how I was supposed to do that.'_ Naruto thought irritably. The three were about to make their way home when the D-arc started to beep and both digimon tensed up.

"Well this is unexpected." Naruto said as he grabbed his D-arc which immodestly showed the red arrow pointing off to the right. Looking in that direction Naruto saw the typical Digital field not that far away, "Though very convenient." He finished.

"So are you guys up for a little fight?" the blond questioned as he looked at his digimon from the corner of his eye.

"We're ready Naruto." Patamon stated not even hesitating for a second in answering.

"Just try and stop us." Coronamon replied a confident smirk on his face as he walked toward the Digital field and the awaiting digimon.

"Alright then, but if it looks like you two need help I'll be stepping in but only if you need it." Naruto answered as he put on his shades as he followed the two determined digimon.

Walking through the fog created by the digital field Naruto looked around trying to spot the digimon that just biomerged. With his advance senses he heard the leaves rustling in a tree a short distance away. From it came out a giant gold furred ape with blue face, hands, feet, chest, and ears with black claws and a giant bone on his back.

"Whoa what is it today and freaking monkeys' crossing over?" Naruto asked as he pulled out his D-arc. "Alright let's see what we have here, Apemon a Vaccine Champion level digimon his Metallic Fur attack makes for an awesome defense and his Mega Bone Stick and Magical Monkey are something to watch out for." Naruto read before looking up toward the digimon that was standing across from them, "Are you guys sure you can handle him?" Naruto asked again.

"We're sure, don't worry we won't take long." Coronamon answered a fireball already in hand.

Rushing forward Apemon brought the bone off his back and swung it hoping to hit any one of them. The three jumped away from the mad monkey to safe distance from Apemon. Naruto had jumped back body tense ready to step in at a moment's notice while Patamon and Coronamon were already firing their attacks.

"Boom Bubble."

"Corona Flame."

Apemon only took a second to acknowledge the two attacks now racing toward him from opposite sides before raising both hands and placing them in the path of the attacks, "Metallic Fur." He growled before his fur seemed to glow for a second before being obscured by the attacks collision.

_'He just took it like it was nothing is his defense really that good?'_ thought Naruto as he tried to peer through the smoke.

Naruto got his answer when the smoke cleared and Apemon stood there without any sign of damage what so ever. Apemon growled before looking left and right trying to decide which digimon he should attack. It only took a second before he jumped left toward Coronamon bone club raised his intention clear.

While momentarily caught by surprise Coronamon recovered quickly and got out of way just in time before Apemon smashed it against the ground with a cry of "Mega Bone Stick" shattering the ground where Coronamon once stood.

Patamon reacted immediately the moment Apemon moved to attack Coronamon, "Boom Bubble." He called and watched as the pressurized air bubble made its way toward Apemon's back.

The second the Boom Bubble got close enough Apemon swung around and hit it with his bone club. As a result he was pushed back slightly by the air that was inside of the attack but there was no sign of it doing any major damage to him.

Apemon had only just stopped sliding backwards because of the Boom Bubble before Coronamon had jumped at him from the side fist cocked back and with it in full blaze, "Coro Knuckle." The punch connected with the side of Apemon's face he then used the momentum of the punch to go into a spin kick which connected against Apemon's face.

Apemon righted himself from the combo before he hit the ground and landed on his feet and watched as Coronamon and Patamon regrouped before gathering the energy for their next attack.

"Corona Flame!"Coronamon exclaimed as he threw the fireball he had in his hand at the golden furred monkey.

Patamon quickly followed with shouting out the name of his attack, "Boom Bubble!"

Apemon didn't bother trying to block their attacks this time and simply jumped over the attacks before he landed in front of the two Rookie digimon and pulled his fists back, "Magical Monkey Fist." then threw them forward in a barrage of punches while his fists glowed the same golden color as his fur.

Coronamon was able to block or dodge some of the attacks but the barrage proved to be too much and the occasional punch would get through is guard. Patamon on the other hand wasn't so lucky with only one way of protecting himself that was newly discovered he didn't have much of defense to speak of and suffered from Apemon's onslaught.

Coughing as he tried to catch his breath Coronamon attacked with a Coro Knuckle at the Champion digimon that had just stopped his assault which was quickly followed by a Corona Flame to knock him a good distance away. "Hey Patamon you okay?" Coronamon asked.

Patamon struggled to get up for a second before he managed though he took a few more seconds to reply. "Yeah, give me a minute and I'll be good to go." He replied.

"Alright you rest for a second and in the mean time I'll keep him busy." Coronamon answered before he charged at his opponent hoping to distract him long enough for Patamon to be able to rejoin the fight.

Seeing one of his opponents charging to him Apemon bided his time till the little Rookie was well within his striking range. The second he was close enough Apemon swung his bone club with all his strength while calling out his attack. "Mega Bone Stick." By this point it would be nearly impossible for Coronamon to be able to do much more than bloke the attack and hope to minimize the damage.

Realizing this Naruto brought up his D-arc in one hand and a card in the other before he slashed it through the scanner. "Digi-modify… Speed activate."

And just like that Coronamon disappeared in a burst of speed managing to avoid the blow that would have connected not a second later only reappear behind the confused and surprised beast-man digimon. With a fireball in hand Coronamon let it fly aiming to hit the enemy digimon before he recovered and was able to defend himself.

"Corona Flame!"

Apemon only had a split second to register what had just been said behind him before he tried block it with his own attack. "Metallic Fur."

When the smoke cleared from the resulting explosion the trio could see that while the damage from the attack had been lessened there was still evidence that the attack had managed to hit Apemon before he could raise a proper defense. They only had a second to take it all in before Apemon swung himself around to face Coronamon and threw a punch in his direction that was golden in light as proof it being a Magical Monkey Fist. Luckily Coronamon was able to get his guard up before the punch landed before he was hurled across clearing and into a tree. Apemon stalked forward toward the downed digimon club raised as he prepared to finish the little nuisance.

"Boom Bubble."Patamon cried as he stood where he had been recovering for the last few minutes. While still not at 100 percent it was enough to continue to fight thanks to the fact that digimon recover quickly.

Seeing that the Patamon was ready to continue the fight Apemon threw his bone club at him in an effort strike him before he rushed the recovering digimon. Patamon just managed to avoid it by flying above it as he watched it return to Apemon who caught it mid run as if it were a boomerang. Jumping up to reach Patamon's height Apemon swung the bone club intending to hit him only for Patamon to once again avoid it thanks to being able to move in the air because of his ability to fly. This though wasn't true for Apemon something Patamon capitalized on.

Patamon gathered the necessary energy into his wings before he rammed into Apemon while spinning like a top, "Slamming Attack." The force of the attack shot Apemon backwards hitting the ground with a grunt of pain as he slid backwards before flipping himself over.

Patamon landed on the ground huffing as the fatigue he got from the injury from Apemon's last assault was starting to take its toll on him again, _'I just have to last long enough for Coronamon to recover. I'm sure when can take him if we attack together'_ He thought.

"Hey Patamon are you doing alright?" Naruto asked as he came over to stand by his partner was barely standing himself. _'I should have known not to let them fight after they just go through with their first training session.'_

"Yeah just tired but I don't think that my attack had much of an effect on him it doesn't have enough power behind it." Patamon replied as he stood on shaky legs.

Naruto looked on concerned as Patamon rose off the ground, "Are you sure your okay to continue? I can step in and handle him from here you and Coronamon have done enough for one night Patamon."

Patamon shook his head in a negative "No we can't always rely on you to finish these fights but…" Patamon said as he looked at his tamer, "I wouldn't say no to using another modify card like you did for Coronamon." He finished.

"I see," Naruto began as he pulled out a card from his holster, "Well I think I have just what we need. Digi-modify… Power activate!" Naruto said as he slashed another card through his D-arc.

Apemon seeing what blond human was doing and remembering what it did for Coronamon immediately went on the defensive till he figured out what it did for the Patamon.

Patamon could feel the cards affects taking hold, he was still tired but he could feel that his attacks were stronger than they ever were before. He still doubted that he could finish the fight by himself but he knew that now he would be able to hurt Apemon enough that it would give Coronamon enough time to recover. Sucking in a large amount of air Patamon held it for a second before releasing it, "Boom Bubble."

Seeing the attack coming and still be uncertain of what affects the card the human had on the small digimon were Apemon decided to play it safe before he prepared his ultimate defense. "Metallic Fur." When the Boom Bubble hit it kicked up a lot of dust that obscured Apemon from view.

"Mega Bone Stick." From the smoke Apemon through the bone club, Patamon and Naruto were forced to jump away from it or risk being hit. Apemon rushed out of the smoke screen once again catching the club on its return trip. Closing in on Patamon Apemon swung his club in a horizontal swing.

Seeing Apemon's intentions Patamon dropped to the ground in order to avoid the attack. Patamon sucked in another large amount of air before firing the Boom Bubble while in close range of Apemon.

Being so close to the attack Apemon had no way to either block it either with his club, use his Metallic Fur attack, or dodge it forcing him to take the brunt of the attack. The Boom Bubble sent him up into the air before he hit a tree hard. Luckily for the ape he was still stronger than the Rookie level digimon so he didn't have to worry about being deleted from the hit.

Patamon quickly followed Apemon as he slid down the tree from where he impacted with it. Gathering energy into his wings Patamon went into his secondary attack. "Slamming Attack." He called out as spun forming a blue doom of energy.

"Metallic Fur." Apemon quickly replied as he rushed to get his defensive move up in order to block the fast approaching attack. While he could probably survive the attack, being hit in quick succession by two powered up attacks was a bad idea no matter how you looked at it. When the attack hit Apemon grunted in pain, the power of the attack and the fact that he was just barely able to gather the energy required for using his Metallic Fur attack didn't help things at all.

"Great job Patamon." Naruto praised as Patamon backed away from the downed digimon incase Apemon was able to retaliate after that last attack.

"Thanks Naruto." Patamon said as he panted trying to catch his breath, he had used most of the extra power the card gave him in that last attack.

Rage coursed through Apemon as he shakily stood up. He was hurt. He had been hurt by a human and his pet digimon; he would not stand for this kind of humiliation he would make them pay starting with the human filth before he went after the digimon who disgraced themselves by following the human. He watched as the human male and the Patamon talked to one another totally oblivious to the threat that he still posed, _'Fools.'_

Gathering his strength Apemon charged the two before he jumped into the air his bone club raised above his head as he aimed to cave in the blond's head in. "Don't ignore me you pathetic fools! Mega Bone Stick!" Apemon roared as he brought his club down. He put all his strength into this attack, plus the added force given to him by gravity and he was sure that soon the blond would be missing his head.

"Naruto!" the newly awakened Coronamon shouted as he watched what was about to happen to his tamer and being too far away and too slow to do anything to do about it.

Coronamon's shout drew the blond's attention before he looked up toward the rapidly falling Apemon. Patamon watched on shocked as the golden monkey feel down toward them he was too tired to actually do anything else then watch as Apemon tried to end his friend and tamer's life. Naruto while initially caught by surprise quickly recovered and waited with a smirk on his face knowing what the result of Apemon's surprise attack would be.

Apemon grinned, a fanged filled grin as he was sure he was moments away from his victory. That grin was quickly wiped off his face as he watched the blond human catch his club in his left hand. _'I-Impossible how did he stop it.'_

Naruto knew that at the speed that Apemon was falling, it would be impossible to get out of the way in time, but he also knew that it would be impossible for Apemon to change his plan of attack. Sending chakra into his left hand Naruto raised it and caught the bone club just as it was inches away from his face with little effort. For a moment when the club made contact with his hand Naruto could have sworn that he saw a series of ones and zeroes over a blue background before his vision returned to normal. Shaking it off Naruto instead chose to focus on the digimon that was right in front of him. "You know that you're the second monkey today that tried to attack me."

Apemon struggled to pull his club free from the Shinobi's grip but not even with him using all his strength he couldn't budge it an inch. "Damn human let go. Let go damn it. What the hell are you?" Before Naruto could respond to Apemon's question the digital ape raised his free hand as prepared to unleash another attack in hopes of getting him to let go. "Mystical Monk–arg."

Before Apemon could finish Naruto slammed his own chakra covered fist into his chest sending flying backwards from the force of the hit. _'Not as good as Tsunade-Baachan or Sakura-Chan but it'll do.'_ Naruto thought as he watched the results of his punch.

Standing up Coronamon made a fireball in the palm of his hand before throwing it at the downed digimon, "Corona Flame."

Gathering the last of the extra power he received from the modify card Patamon launched his own attack at Apemon fully intending to end this, "Boom Bubble."

Apemon was still recovering from the chakra infused punch when both attacks slammed into him. Coughing Apemon tried to stand up having to use his bone club as a crutch as he did so. "Damn you 'cough' I-I refuse to-to lose here to the likes of you!"

Naruto watched on sadly as Apemon continued to try and stand up before shaking his head remorsefully as he pulled out another card from his holster. "It's time we ended this." He said as he slashed the card through his D-arc that he re-clipped to his belt after using it the last time, "Digi-modify… Garurumon's Howling Blaster Activate!"

Both digimon seemed to let out a small cold blue flame from their mouths before it became a raging inferno of blue fire. With twin cries of "Howling Blaster." The inferno made its way toward Apemon and his inventible demise.

Seeing the attack coming Apemon put everything he had in a last ditch effort to survive, "Metallic Fur." He spoke in a panic as the blue inferno made its way toward him. For a moment his attack seemed to hold out before he quickly became overwhelmed. "No damn it how is this possible!" He roared as the Howling Blaster broke him down into specs of red data.

Sighing Naruto put his cards away as he clipped his D-arc back onto his belt before he turned to stare at the two digimon that were worn out from the fight having just come out of their first night of training. "Good work you two. You've done a real good job even with haven been tired beforehand. I'm proud of you. So how about we go home and I make that dinner I promised you have definitely earned it." Both digimon smiled at the praise they received from their tamer and at the prospect of a well made dinner after a long hard fought battle.

The trio was once again interrupted from going home this time in the form of footsteps running through the fog that had yet to disperse. Turning in that direction they watched as a certain red head ran through the fog with blue tinted sunglasses on and her partner appearing behind her not a second later. Taking off her sunglasses Rika looked around searching for the digimon that biomerged before she started to glare at Naruto.

"Hey Ri-Chan didn't think I was going to see you today." Naruto said casually as he waved at her.

"Shut up Baka now where is the… Wait a minute what did you just say?" Rika demanded more than asked as her eyes narrowed as she stared at the blond who was still smiling.

"Hm? Oh I just called you Ri-Chan since Ri-Chan didn't like me calling her Rika-Chan I had to come up with something new, what do you think?" Naruto asked after he finished explaining himself.

"What do I think? What do I think! I think I'm going–" Rika shouted only to be cut off before she could finish what she was saying.

"Rika." Renamon spoke up for the first time interrupting her tamer mid-sentence and drawing her attention and ire to her. Making eye contact the two seemed to having a silent conversation as they stared at each other before Rika let out a sigh and seemed to calm down though the obvious annoyance was still there but she was restraining herself or at least trying to.

"Fine, so whiskers where is the digimon that biomerged? Don't tell me that you let it get away." Rika asked only to end in an exasperated tone when she thought of the possibility of the blond letting the digimon get away because he didn't want to get in a fight with it, though he did prove not to have the same pacifist qualities his friend with the Terriermon had.

"Digimon?" Naruto asked in a confused tone only to realize what she was talking about a second later, "Oh! You're kind of late for that Ri-Chan." The blond Shinobi answered.

Rika clenched her fists when she heard him call her by that new nickname he had come up with, _'I swear if he doesn't stop calling me that I'm going to make him regret it. It all makes me wish he would call me Rika-Chan again it's not nearly as bad.'_ "Baka you did let it get away didn't. You and your loser friends should stop getting in my way and let the professionals handle it."

"Professional?" Naruto questioned in a quite tone before shaking his head amusedly, "I'm glad you're so confident in yours and Renamon's abilities in a fight but when I said you're too late it was because we already beat the digimon the biomerged." Naruto said as he gestured to himself and the two digimon standing beside him and the Digital Field that was just starting to disappear.

"What?" Rika asked slightly shocked that the blond idiot had actually gone through with deleting the digimon.

"He is telling the truth Rika." Renamon spoke up again.

Rika turned to look at her partner eyebrow raised as she wordlessly asked for Renamon to explain how she knew that he was telling the truth.

Understanding what her tamer was asking Renamon replied, "I can still sense the remnants of an unknown digimon's signature here. There are also some signs of a battle haven happened here not too long ago."

Looking around Rika noticed there were some signs of damage most likely from the fight and that the Digital Field was all but gone. "So you actually went through with deleting the digimon and had one of those two absorb its data?" Rika questioned.

"No."

"What? Why didn't you load its data and make your digimon stronger it's all they're good for anyway."

"What do you mean it's all we're good for you bi–" Coronamon began as he stepped forward, ready tear one out of Rika, as Renamon did the same to protect her tamer incase the small lion decided to attack.

"Easy there you two we don't have any reason to fight each other so calm down." Naruto intervened as he stepped in between the two digimon. The two digimon stared each other down just waiting for the other one to make a move. "Now." Naruto said forcefully. The two digimon held their positions for a bit longer before backing down. Seeing as that they managed to avoid a confrontation they most likely would have lost Naruto turned his head to stare at Rika. "Tell me Rika do you honestly believe that digimon are only data?" He questioned honestly curious about what the young red head thought.

Rika scoffed at the stupidity of the question but decided to answer it anyway, "Of course they're nothing more than data. When they fight the stronger digimon absorbs the weaker digimon's data so it can get stronger that's just how things are."

"But a digimon's life doesn't have to revolve only on fighting Rika." Naruto replied.

"Oh and tell me what else are they good for if not fighting and loading data to become the best." Rika asked though she didn't really care about the blond's answer.

"I don't know I'm new to most of this," Naruto admitted but the fire in his eyes easily dispersed any doubts or hesitations that he might have had. "But I do know that they don't have to fight if they don't want to. If they fight it's because they have their own reasons for it besides for getting stronger. You may be right and they are nothing more than data but they still have a free will of their own that lets them act on their own. Even you can't deny their existence as something more than a TV show or a card game." He finished.

Rika was getting agitated by the blond's words and wanted to end this conversation, "Is there a point to this because you can spare me the philosophy lecture and quite wasting my time."

Naruto sighed in disappointment as it seemed that his words weren't making much of an impact on the cold hearted girl before he smiled softly. "No I've said my piece." He said as he turned to walk away with Patamon and Coronamon following him, "But don't think I've given up on convincing you yet Ri-Chan. I'll show you that digimon are alive and they are more than data." He finished saying as he looked over his shoulder at the girl a confident grin on his face before he turned his head forward and headed to his apartment. "See ya around Ri-Chan." He called back.

Rika watched the blond Shinobi walk away with a blush on her face from hearing the nickname he had given her, though the likely hood of it being more from anger rather than embarrassment were pretty high. Though a part of her; a very, very small part, couldn't deny that the conviction and determination of his parting words didn't affect her somewhat. "Let's go Renamon we've wasted enough time." Rika finally said as she turned in the direction of her home.

The yellow kitsune simply followed her partner's command without a word as she disappeared from sight in order to follow and keep watch of her tamer from above.

* * *

**READ THIS IT'S IMPORTANT!**

**AN: Okay first off I'll be ending this here because I can't think of anything else to write for this chapter. So how was it? I seriously hope it was worth the wait I put you all through.**

**Secondly because I made you all wait so long I'm going to do something extra. Partially because I feel bad about making you wait but mostly because I'm bored. Now when I get to the D-reaper, and I will get to it, I'll be doing something that I hope I'll the first one to do. What I want to see is if any of you can guess what it is. It's really not that hard and most likely someone else has done it but I haven't actually gone through all the fanfics and checked. **

**Thirdly something I've been thinking of lately, unless I specifically mention something about a date of time you can pretty much through time out the window. For instance I plan to do a few things but things like days, weeks, months prove to be too much of a hassle. So I'm going to ignore it until necessary so an entire year could happen in a week.**

**And lastly I'll be updating my other story Hikari no Tenshi before I do this one again. But it'll only be one chapter, which I've started then get back to this. I feel I've ignored it long enough.**

**So until next time Ja ne and you can expect it to cover Naruto's dinner over at Rika's. Again if anyone could suggest some food for them to have it would be helpful. **

**Oh I just watched that movie UP is it just me or is that little girl alot like Haruhi Suzumiya. Don't know why I mentioned it but eh aright that's it.**


	5. Calumon Comes to Play and Dinner at Rika

**AN: Here is the next chapter of Shinobi of the Digital Hazard. I want to say sorry because I had intended to upload this on Tuesday of two weeks ago. But some complications arose, mostly me procrastinating, and didn't get it done until now.**

**For those who didn't read my author's note at the end of the last chapter I'm giving everyone a chance to guess **_**one**_** of the plans I have for the D-Reaper arc. I'll let those who guess right know through a PM and mention them in whatever chapter I choose to end this in.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Digimon, or anything else that may or may not show up in any of my Fanfics if I did I would be either really rich or really poor because no one watched the shows.**

**Now enjoy the show uh… I mean chapter**

* * *

Calumon Comes to Play and Dinner at Rika's

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

"**Megidramon"**

**(Author Notes)**

It was finally the end of the week and we find our favorite blond lying on top of Guilmon's shed reading a book while Coronamon, Guilmon, and Patamon played a game of tag. Now most back in Konoha would have been surprised by the blond's choice of pass time but ever since he read _**"The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja"**_by his godfather Jiraiya he found himself reading more and more as time went on. Normally at this time he would just be getting out of school but he decided to send a Shadow Clone in his place, one reinforced with the former Kyuubi's and now his chakra to make it more durable, to further familiarize himself with the city or out of laziness he couldn't decide.

Of course the fact that he got to spend the entire day without having to look over his shoulder every few seconds for any of his fan-girls that might be following him around was a nice bonus. The fan club already seemed to consist of most of the girls in his class and year with a few of the older students as well. Though he said only most due to the fact that Jeri Katou, a friend of Takato's, seemed not to be a fan-girl like the rest of his female classmates something he was thankful for, and Takato seemed to be relieved about as well. So far the brown haired girl seemed to be very nice, if not a little strange, as she seemed to be friends with everyone.

While he was out exploring the city he had discovered that Rika went to an all girls private school if the glimpse he caught of Renamon while he was walking by was anything to go by. With this new bit information he already had a few ideas forming of ways he could tease the redheaded girl. He didn't try to embarrass the girl to be mean he just liked the way she would get when she was all flustered at his remarks it was kind of funny. Besides she needed to lighten up and not take things so seriously.

As he lay there his mind drifted to the events that happened earlier that week.

* * *

_Flashback_

_The one human and two digimon were lying on the couch in the living room with content smiles on their faces having just finished their dinner that was cooked by the talented blond after having finished their first training session and fighting Apemon. They were currently watching a TV show about a teen with orange hair and a girl with raven colored hair with lousy drawing skills._

"_Hey Coronamon… Patamon?" Naruto spoke up getting the attention of the two Rookie level digimon._

"_Hm." The two replied in unison still full from dinner and on the verge of falling asleep._

"_During the fight with Apemon, when I slashed the modify cards how did you know it worked how it was supposed to?" Naruto asked as he stared at the D-arc he held in his hand above his head._

_The two digimon spared each other a glance before turning their heads to look at their tamer. "What do you mean Naruto?" Patamon asked._

_Sitting up Naruto look at the two digimon and seeing their confused expression decided it was best that he explained what he was currently thinking. "When Rika and Henry slashed their cards through the D-arc it worked perfectly and I can understand that but for us it's different. If I had two D-arcs it wouldn't be as bad, all I had to do is remember which are which but that isn't the case I only have the one." He said as he held it up for them to see as well, "So how do we know it won't accidently give one of you the card meant for the other?" he asked._

"_As long as it works who cares if we don't understand it." Coronamon replied before he lay back down._

_Naruto shook his head in negative before answering. "No Coronamon this is important if one of you seriously needed a modify card and the other got it, it could cost one of you your lives." He said in a completely serious tone._

_Coronamon sighed as he nodded his head, "Fine I guess I can see your point."_

"_Then what are we supposed to do? Never use the modify cards or only when we're desperate?" Patamon asked understanding how important and serious this conversation really was._

"_No," Naruto shook his head, "Using modify cards are too much of an advantage over the digimon that have bioemerged to simply decide to stop using them. We have to figure out how this works."_

"_And how are we supposed to do that?" Coronamon asked._

_Crossing his arms Naruto closed his eyes in thought, "Well first we have to see if there was anything special when I slashed those modify cards." He said before opening his eyes. "Is there anything that you guys can remember that might help?"_

_Both digimon took a moment to think about what happened earlier to see if anything stood out to them. After about a minute of thinking Patamon seemed to remember something from his fight with Apemon._

"_Well, I do remember this sort of tingling in the back of my mind." Patamon said as he scrunched his eyes up in thought trying to recall any more details that could help._

"_Tingling?" Naruto questioned as Patamon nodded his head._

"_Yeah it was just this feeling in the back of my mind and that's the best way to describe it. It wasn't strong enough to distract me during the fight but it was strong enough for me to notice." Patamon said before turning his head to his fellow orange furred digimon to see if he experienced anything similar when Naruto used the speed card on him._

_Coronamon tapped his chin in thought before speaking up. "Now that you mention it I definitely felt something like that right after Naruto scanned the card. I didn't give it much thought because I had to avoid Apemon's attack but I did feel something."_

_Naruto nodded his head in acceptance as he tried to think what the tingling feeling could mean, "What about the third time when I scanned the Garurumon card?" he asked as he tried to figure out if anything happened when he swiped the third card._

_Coronamon nodded his head in confirmation before answering, "Yeah I felt the same thing when you scanned the last card."_

"_Me too," Patamon added in._

"_Ok so we know how to tell which of you gets the card's affect but not how it's decided which one of you gets it." Naruto concluded. "I mean does it go to who needs it more, does one of you or me decide who gets its affects, or to whoever can still fight."_

_Coronamon scratched his head in frustration "What does it even matter? It's not like we can actually do anything about it right now so we might as well stop worrying about it." He stated._

_Naruto sighed before nodding his head in agreement, "Yeah I guess your right Coronamon. It'll just have to be one more thing we'll add to our training regimen." He said before looking at the clock and seeing how late it was and remembering he still had school in the morning. "I guess we should turn in for the night, good night you two." Naruto said as he turned off the TV and made his way to his room as the two digimon went to their own room._

"_Good night Naruto." The two digimon called back at the same time as they entered their room._

_Flashback End_

* * *

Since then they had trained every night of the week in improving the physical condition of both Patamon and Coronamon before moving on to sparing against each other or Naruto, and ending it with practicing with the modify cards. Naruto was proud in how far the two had come in their physical training but they were still had a long way to go before they were at a level he was comfortable with. On the other hand the modify training was a bit uncertain thing though they did figure some things out.

'_So far we've figured out that the cards will work for either one of them or both depending on my own will.'_ Naruto sighed, _'There is a little chance either Coronamon or Patamon will get the wrong card at the wrong time though. But we have to test it out in actual fight to make sure we aren't wrong and that I can actually do it right under the pressure of a fight.'_

Bringing himself out of his silent musings Naruto read more of the book he bought the other day before the others got there seeing as the Shadow Clone had dispelled itself when school let out a few minutes ago, where no one could see it go up in a puff of smoke of course.

"_**Fire, burn! Burn and light up the path to her future!"**_ It wasn't much but he found himself liking that one line more and more with each time he read it. That something known to consume all that was in its way would be what destroyed one girl's terrible past, while forging the way to a future, free from the pain caused by one man, a man who should have protected her, who kept her in the dark and cold; seemed almost fitting to the cerulean eyed boy.

"Who do you think is behind it?" hearing a voice close by Naruto silently cursed to himself for being so distracted that he didn't notice someone coming. He was ready to move and grab the three playing digimon before they could be seen when a second voice replied to the first question.

"It's probably just some of the students playing a practical joke Takato."

Taking a second to register what was being said Naruto relaxed when he recognized who the two voices belonged to.

Letting out a sigh of relief;_ 'It's just Takato and Henry.'_ Naruto thought to himself. Wondering what the two were talking about he got up and moved to the edge of the shed before sitting down. "Hey there guys! What are you two talking about?" he asked his two fellow tamers.

Apparently the two boys hadn't realized that the blond was there from the way the two jumped in surprise when he spoke. Looking up to the top of the shed they were greeted with the sight of a grinning blond waving at them from his seat on top of the roof.

"Naruto don't do that! Jeez you nearly gave me a heart attack. What are you a ninja or something, coming out of nowhere like that." the goggle wearing tamer said as he got his heart rate back under control.

Naruto chuckled uneasily at Takato unknowingly guessing one of his secrets but decided to play it off as a joke to lessen any possible suspicion, "He he you never know Takato maybe I am." Naruto replied in a joking manner.

"Hey Naruto?" Takato began.

"Hm?"

"Where did you go after school let out? One second your right there and the next you disappeared."

"Oh that… Nowhere really I just decided to rush over here seeing as I had nothing else to do and figured you guys would be here soon. I also wanted to check up on these guys." He said indicating to the digimon who had been joined by Terriermon in their game of tag. "Since I let them hang out here with Guilmon instead of being home by themselves all day. And in the mean time I was reading this" He finished by holding up the book he had been reading.

"A book?" Henry asked curious about what kind of literature the blond would be reading.

"Yup, here catch." Naruto replied as tossed the book toward the half-Japanese half-Chinese tamer when he noticed the boy's curiosity over the book he was reading.

Catching it Henry turned it over in order to read the title. _**"Legend of the Hiiaro Ookami,"**_ He read out loud.

"Yeah, it's a pretty good sort of like a mystery book only with a whole lot of cases instead one. If you want to borrow it just ask." Naruto answered as he jumped down from the top of the roof, "Now what was it you guys were talking about when you got here?" Naruto questioned again.

"We were trying to figure out who broke into the equipment shed at school and then left those chalk drawings on the soccer field yesterday and today." Takato replied.

"They showed up today too? But didn't the faculty put a lock on the door?" Naruto asked.

"They did, but whoever did it was apparently able to break the lock on the door." Henry answered as he handed the book back to red streaked boy saying that he would like to borrow it at another time.

"Really?" Naruto asked though he didn't really expect an answer. For the last couple of days someone had broken into the equipment shed and stole the chalk drawing thing **(AN: Anyone know what it's called because I'm coming up with a blank.)** before drawing lines all over the soccer field that no one could make heads or tails of. With no clues pointing to who was responsible the student body had resorted to making rumors on all possible suspects ranging from a rival soccer team to aliens and ghosts.

"Who do you think is behind this Naruto?" Takato asked.

The boy in question crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes as he gave the question some thought. "It's probably just some little kid." he decided.

"A little kid?" Henry asked surprised at the blond's conclusion, "What makes you think it was a little kid?"

"First of all they did the same thing twice. Any true prankster would never repeat themselves. Secondly those "drawings" are just some random squiggly lines. Usually they would be some crude drawing of a teacher or the principle or some message to taunt to faculty. This just all seems to childish in nature." He explained.

"But if it was a little kid then how would they be able to get by the lock let alone break it?" Takato asked; he knew he would never be able to do something like that when he was younger.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "Never stopped me." He answered. This earned him curios looks from the two other tamers along with a bit of suspicion. Naruto noticed the looks he was getting and decided to clear things up before they got it in their heads that it was him. "Hey hold on don't look at me like that. I mean sure I am an experienced prankster but it wasn't me, the prank was way too simple for anything I would do."

"Alright, if it is a little kid what do we do about it?" Henry asked as he accepted the blond's explanation.

"Nothing," Naruto replied.

"But shouldn't we do something to get this kid to stop before he or she gets into trouble?" questioned Takato.

"What can we do? We still don't know who the kid is or do you have a clue as to who it could be?"

"Well, no." Takato admitted.

"Then we would only be wasting our time trying to figure it out without anything to go on." Naruto explained as he sat down against a tree with his book open, "Besides I'm sure whoever it is will get tired of pulling the same prank over and over again and move on to something else soon enough."

"He has a point Takato without any leads there isn't much we can actually do. Besides I'm sure that the teachers will take care of it and catch whoever it is if they don't stop." Henry said as he came to the same conclusion as the blond.

"If you guys' say so."

It was at that point that Guilmon finally noticed that his tamer was there and rushed over to greet him.

"Takatomon!" Guilmon shouted as he collided with Takato knocking them both over.

"Guilmon don't do that! And how many times do I have to tell you I am not a mon!" Takato exclaimed from his position on the ground.

"I'm sorry Takatomon but I had so much fun today." Guilmon said getting off of his tamer and conveniently ignoring his tamer's denial about being a digimon. "I got to play all sorts of games with Coronamon and Patamon. Then we ate this food called ramen and it was really good, but not as good as bread."

A shocked whisper came from the blond that was still managed to be heard by everyone there, "What?"

Everyone turned to stare at the blond who was just barely holding onto his book as he stared at the red raptor with wide eyes. Standing up Naruto quickly walked over to the digital dino in an almost trance like state.

"What did you just say?" he asked in a monotone voice as he stared down the confused digimon who didn't understand why his friend was acting so strangely.

'_Oh no.'_ the shocked whiskered marked boy's partners thought in unison as they silently groaned to themselves, already knowing their tamer's obsession with ramen and what Guilmon's must have done to him. All the while they also made sure to signal to the others that everything was alright so they wouldn't freak out by their partner's antics.

While still confused by how the blue eyed blond was acting the naïve not so little digimon answered the blond's question anyway. "The ramen that Coronamon and Patamon gave me was really tasty but I like the bread that Takatomon brings me I think that it tastes way better." He replied cheerfully with a big smile on his reptilian face.

Suddenly a light appeared behind the blond as he kneeled in front of Guilmon with a gentle smile on his face. Reaching out with his hand he placed it on the red dino's shoulder. "Guilmon you miss guided soul; I'll show you the errors of your way. That any food could possibly be greater than ramen is pure blasphemy." Standing back up he held his hand out to the saurian digimon expecting for the dino to actually take it. "Come Guilmon let me lead you to the path of greatness and show you the undeniable truth that is rame-" The end of Naruto's sentence was cut off when Coronamon jumped up and smacked the back of his head.

"Enough you ramen nut! All you're going to do is scar him for life with all your ramen talk." Coronamon said as he pointed to the red digimon who still looked more confused than anything else.

Naruto got up from the ground having fallen over when Coronamon hit him having been caught completely by surprise. As he rubbed the spot that Coronamon had hit him Naruto glared at the small digimon, though it lacked any real malice. He knew that he had might have gone off into a bit of a rant just now but when it came to ramen he really couldn't help himself it was just that great. "Damn it Coronamon was that really necessary?"

"Well either Patamon or I had to do it and Patamon is too nice." Coronamon answered his tone making it seem like it should have been obvious to the sun kissed blond. "Really what does it matter it is not like ramen is really that good anyway." Coronamon finished in a huff as he crossed his arms over his chest.

A look of horror appeared on Naruto's face as he pulled off a good imitation of 'The Scream'. "Wha-wha-WHAT! Coronamon how can you say such a thing, there's nothing in the world that is better than ramen. Blasphemy I say blasphemy!" The blond exclaimed as he stared at his partner in disbelief.

The others watched on as the two began arguing with each other not knowing what to do or if they should even step in and stop it. Guilmon was confused why his two friends were fighting each other and worried that he might have caused it, "Takatomon did I say something wrong?" he asked hoping his tamer would know what was wrong and what he could do so his friends would stop fighting.

"I don't think so boy." Takatomon replied as he continued to stare at the fighting pair who were now pulling at each other's faces making them look quite silly.

"Then why are they fighting?" Guilmon asked as he tilted his head to the side in confusion. To him it just seemed silly as long as you could eat it what did it matter which one was better.

"I'm not sure Guilmon." Takato answered wondering if he or Henry should step in and stop them. Being the kind of guy that usually tends to avoid all types of fighting unless absolutely necessary, and never with your friends, Takato wasn't really sure how he was supposed to handle the situation.

Patamon, noticing the group's looks of concern, flew over and landed on the red dino's head, "Hey don't worry about it they're not really fighting."

"Really? It sure doesn't look that way to me." Henry commented as the face pulling continued between the human and digimon pair.

Patamon couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him. Looking over at the two it would be easy to see how the others would think that they were actually fighting each other, but even after a week the bond between the three was already really strong and Patamon could tell they were just messing around with each other. Naruto and Coronamon were more likely to joke around with each other while Patamon just watched on from the sidelines laughing at their antics. At times the two digimon would gang up on Naruto and force him to eat something besides ramen for a couple of reasons. The first reason being that, that much ramen wasn't good for him and the second because they didn't feel like eating ramen as much as he did or as often. Their bound also got stronger with all the time they spent training with each other every night that week.

"Trust me it might not look like it but they aren't being serious. This is just something they do every once and a while to have a bit of fun." Patamon reassured them. It was only moments later that the two stopped fighting and walked over to the group, having gotten a good distance away when they fell onto the ground and began to roll around for a bit, acting like nothing happened.

"So do you guys have any plans for the weekend?" Naruto asked as he sat himself against the tree he had left earlier, with Patamon flying over and landing on his head while Coronamon jumped up the tree to reach a branch and sat himself there.

"I have a martial arts lesson this weekend, and I think that's about it." Henry replied as he leaned up against another tree making sure to keep an eye on Terriermon, as the small rabbit began to explore the surrounding area with Guilmon following soon after, to make sure he stayed out of trouble.

"You practice martial arts?" Naruto questioned genuinely curious and excited at the prospect of having a sparring partner again, though he would have to hold back a bit to make sure he didn't accidently hurt the half-Chinese tamer.

Henry nodded his head in confirmation before answering, "For a few years now."

"That's so awesome we should have a spar sometime." Naruto said his excitement obvious to everyone there, he would basically bouncing off the walls if it wasn't for the fact that there weren't any and he was still sitting down.

"You know martial arts?" Henry asked, though he wasn't very surprised with how fast Naruto seemed to be it should have been obvious he had to have some sort of training.

"Yeah, ever since I was 8 years old. It's sort of tradition from where I come from that everyone learn at least the basics." The blond said as he also gave a little half lie to his friends.

"Wow you must be really good then." Takato said amazed at how long his friend had practiced martial arts, _'I wonder if he can break cinder blocks in half like those guys on TV.'_

Naruto rubbed the back of his head as he gave the goggle wearing tamer a sheepish smile as he chuckled nervously, "Not really, I pretty much was the worst in my class for the first four years and didn't actually start to improve until I was 12." He continued as he .looked back at Henry, "So what do you say about that spar Henry."

"I'm not sure." Henry replied still uncomfortable with the whole idea of fighting.

"What are you so worried about Henry, the whole point of sparing is to test ourselves and get better in the process. If it makes you feel any better we can spar at where ever it is you train if your sensei agrees to it." Naruto offered.

Henry thought about it for a second and realized there really wasn't anything wrong with the idea. Both he and Naruto were both well trained so there was little chance they would hurt each other, and if his sensei did agree to let them then he really didn't have any reason not to, "Alright I'll ask my sensei tomorrow about it and then let you know what he says."

Naruto nodded his head in agreement with any luck he might be able to learn some of this worlds martial arts and add it to his repertoire. "What about you Takato have anything interesting planned?" Naruto asked as he turned his attention to the brown haired boy.

"If you call feeding the school rabbits interesting, then yes." Takato said lamely as he shrugged his shoulders, "Besides that I'll probably help my parents out in the bakery and hangout with Guilmon."

"Your family owns a bakery?" Naruto asked at the new piece of information the virus tamer had supplied.

"Yeah," Takato confirmed, "its how I'm always able to bring Guilmon bread in the morning and for dinner." He supplied.

"What about you Naruto?" Henry asked, "Do you have anything planned?"

Naruto hummed to himself as he thought about it for a second. "I need to find a way to make some money." He finally answered.

"Why?" Takato asked surprised. "Didn't you say that your guardian was paying for everything?" He continued as he remembered the blond mentioning it once at some point in the last week.

"Only for necessities" Naruto replied, "Anything else has to come from my own pockets, which are currently empty. And besides I don't want to rely on him for this sort of thing." The two boys nodded their heads understanding where the blond was coming from having learned he was quite independent in the one week they had known him.

"If you want I can ask my parents. I can't promise anything though. It's a small bakery so there isn't much need for extra help." Takato offered.

Naruto smiled gratefully at the boy but shook his head, "Thanks Takato but I already have an idea of what I can do." Naruto said as he kindly refused Takato's offer.

"And what do you have in mind." Henry inquired, curious at what the blond could have possibly planned.

"Sorry but I want to keep that a surprise for now." Naruto replied. Both tamers saw the mischievous glint in Naruto's eyes and knew better than to ask further questions, at that point Terriermon had called the two over to play with him and Guilmon in a game of hide and seek. The Nidaime Kyuubi was silent for a moment as he was trying to figure out why he was feeling like he was forgetting something. _'I'm sure that there was something else about today that I was supposed to remember.'_ Naruto thought as he tried to remember what was so important.

"Hey Naruto is there something wrong?" Patamon asked having noticed his tamer's discomfort.

"Huh?" Naruto asked as he looked up toward his flying partner, "No it's nothing; it's just that I'm sure that I'm forgetting something important. Got any ideas what it could be?"

"Didn't you say something about being invited over for dinner today by someone last week?" Coronamon asked lazily as laid against the tree Naruto was sitting under.

Naruto blinked a couple of times as he finally remembered his meeting with Seiko Hata a week ago. "That's right Hata-San invited me to eat with her family to welcome me to the city." Naruto answered, "But how did you remember that?"

"When it comes to food there is no way I could forget." Coronamon answered a bit smugly.

Naruto shook his head very amused by how proud Coronamon sounded of himself. Getting up, Naruto dusted off any dirt that got on his pants as he announced his leaving to the others.

"Why are you leaving already? We all just got here." Takato asked his blond haired friend.

Naruto gave Takato an apologetic smile for not staying longer to hang out with his friends, "Yeah sorry but I just remembered that I was invited for dinner tonight."

"Dinner?" Henry questioned taking a part in the conversation, "That's still at least a few hours away." Henry stated.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders in reply, "I know but I still have to make these two dinners," He said as he pointed at his two partners, "and then get ready myself before heading out." He finished as he made his way down the stairs.

"Alright I guess we'll see you tomorrow Naruto." Takato called out to the retreating blond. Henry also saying his goodbyes to the blond. Naruto waved goodbye from over his shoulder, Patamon on top of his head waving his own goodbye with Coronamon quickly following his tamer and fellow digimon by hoping from tree to tree.

"Sure thing, make sure to bring your cards too. I thought of a few combos that I want to try out." Naruto said.

* * *

In another part of the city a certain red head was walking down the street, having gotten out of school awhile ago she was in her usual outfit of a white t-shirt with a light blue broken heart and sleeves with blue jeans with a couple of belts one around her waist and another at her thigh and her red steel toed shoes. Listening to the music that was playing through her headphones she ignored the rest of the world… or at least that's what she tried to do. A memory of the meeting she had with a certain whiskered marked, spiky haired blond with red streaks, sapphire eyed boy kept coming to the forefront of her mind.

_Naruto sighed in disappointment as it seemed that his words weren't making much of an impact on the cold hearted girl before he smiled softly. "No I've said my piece." He said as he turned to walk away with Patamon and Coronamon following him, "But don't think I've given up on convincing you yet Ri-Chan. I'll show you that digimon are alive and they are more than data." He finished saying as he looked over his shoulder at the girl a confident grin on his face before he turned his head forward and headed to his apartment. "See ya around Ri-Chan." He called back._

It had already been a few days yet those words were still ringing in her mind. Normally Rika would have been quick to dismiss the blond's words but she just couldn't shake the memory of the look he had in his eyes when he said them. It brought back the memory of the second time she meet the whiskered marked boy. He had that same look, the same blazing unyielding determination. They were just as fierce as she remembered them being when she was looking up at him right after he saved her from being gunned down by Gargomon and he held her in his arms. A shudder went down her spine because of the memory, the reason why even she didn't know.

But the look he had, it was almost like he didn't even have the smallest of doubts in himself or that he would be able to do as he said. In truth it unnerved Rika slightly that there could be someone with such a great amount of determination. The confidence that he held when he spoke those words almost had Rika convinced that Naruto would be able to do it.

"Is there something the matter Rika?" Renamon asked as she appeared behind the girl with their backs to each other as the world around them faded into black. "You seem troubled."

"I'm fine Renamon." Rika replied.

"Are you sure you've been acting strange for the last few days." Renamon persisted. "Would this have anything to do with what Naruto-Sam-n, what Naruto-San said to you earlier this week?" Questioned Renamon as she silently hopped that Rika didn't notice her slight slip up or question her about showing the blond tamer some respect.

If Rika did notice she didn't comment on it, "It's nothing Renamon and it has nothing to do with that baka." She denied though her partner had guessed right. "But since you brought him up maybe you can help answer a few questions about him."

"What questions are those Rika?" Renamon asked. She was slightly taken back by her tamer's questioning seeing as she had about as much knowledge about the blond as her she did.

"That day when the two digimon bioemerged you said you felt a presence right?"

"Yes." Renamon replied turning around to stare at her tamer.

"Did you feel anything whenever we were around Whiskers and his digimon?" The amethyst eyed girl asked.

Renamon hesitated for a second before she answered her tamer's question, "I have Rika."

Rika turned her head to look over her shoulder as her eyes narrowed slightly, "From which one?" she asked.

Renamon registered her question and noticed how Rika's question didn't exactly exclude Naruto. _'Does she already suspect something?'_ Renamon thought to herself. Seeing that her tamer was still waiting on her she decided it best she answer her, she had no reason not anyway. "From Naruto-San," Renamon answered. She watched as Rika faced forward again and lowered her head a bit so she was now looking toward the ground as if deep in thought. Unsure of what was going through her tamer's head she decided to wait and see what she would say.

"Is there anything else you sense about him?" Rika asked without turning around to look at her partner.

Renamon thought it over for a bit but ultimately there really wasn't all that much to think about. "You already know Naruto-San seems to emit a presence I can sense whenever he is nearby but there is something more. I've also felt a certain sense of fear that I can't fully explain yet Rika, but my instincts tell me not to cross him."

Rika raised an eyebrow at Renamon's reply; it didn't make any sense for Renamon to be afraid of someone she should be able to easily handle should he become a threat. "Is that all?" She asked curious if there was anything else she could possibly learn about the blond.

Renamon hesitated again unsure if she should continue and how her tamer would take it, "There is something else. Besides the sense of fear I get whenever he is nearby there is also this underlying need to obey him should he command me to act."

"He can order you around." Rika asked a tinge of concern for her digimon partner making it to her voice.

"I'm not completely sure, if anything I would be highly inclined to follow anything he says. But I also believe that I can fight his commands if my will is strong enough." Renamon explained. "It is very confusing," she finished.

"So this won't affect you too badly?" Rika asked

"No Rika." Renamon replied.

"Good because I still expect the best and I won't accept any excuses Renamon." Rika stated as she returned to her usual cold and indifferent self.

"Understood Rika," Renamon said as she once more vanished to continue watching her tamer from the rooftops. With Renamon gone the world faded back into existence everything picking up exactly where it left off as if no time had passed while tamer and digimon were having their conversation. Rika spared a glance back at where her partner stood not a moment ago before she continued her walk down the street once more deep in thought.

The blond became more of enigma with every passing day. At the forefront of her mind was how he was able to move so fast to save her from the trigger happy bunny and then, if what Renamon said was true, his ability to command her, Renamon, if he wanted too.

'_How could he move so fast? That Gargomon was seconds away from shooting me and yet that blond-baka was able to save me.'_ Rika thought. Then there was what she learned just now, if anything it made even less sense than him being freakishly fast. What kind of human could actually make a digimon fear them, and then there was the fact that Renamon also felt the need to follow his commands. _'None of it makes any sense.'_ She decided. It didn't help that she knew next to nothing about the boy and anything she did learn just seemed to bring up more questions rather than the answers she was looking for. Nothing about him made sense the boy could be an annoying idiot one moment and the next he was totally serious and determined.

She was brought out of her thoughts when her cell-phone started to ring. Pulling it out of her pocket she took a moment to look who was calling before answering, "Hi grandma." Rika answered somewhat more politely then usual seeing as the call was from her home and as far as she knew only her grandmother was home.

"Hello Rika dear." The familiar voice of Seiko Hata came through the other end. "I wanted to remind you to be home in time for dinner tonight, seeing as we will be having a guest over."

"Ok grandma." Rika replied, "Is there anything else?" She asked.

"Yes could you please pass by the grocery and pick up a few things?" Seiko asked back. Rika agreed and after Seiko told her what she would need Rika to pick up thanked her granddaughter and was about ready to hang up. "Thank you for helping me Rika, I'll see you when you get home."

"Its fine grandma and I'll see you soon, will mom be there tonight?"

"I'm afraid not dear; she called earlier today and said something about one of her photo shoots running late tonight so she won't be able to make it." Seiko replied her tone of voice saying how sorry she felt and the slight disappointment in her daughter she felt.

"It's fine. I'll be home soon bye grandma." Rika answered in a slightly more hurried manner and in a way that made it sound that she didn't really care either way. _'At least I know the guest tonight isn't one of mom's boyfriends.'_

"Ok Rika, please remember everything I asked for." Seiko said her voice still tinted in a bit of sadness. Ending the call Rika headed off in a different direction then from before figuring she might as well get the food; take it home before she headed out again. Her mind lingering on the mysterious guest and on a certain whiskered faced; sapphire eyed boy and his words from the other day not knowing they were actually the same person.

"_But don't think I've given up on convincing you yet Ri-Chan. I'll show you that digimon are alive and they are more than data."_

'_There is nothing to convince Whiskers they __**are**__ just data.'_ She thought finally.

* * *

Back at his apartment Naruto was busy looking for the scrap piece of paper that Seiko had given him last week with the address and directions to her home in his room. So far he had little luck finding it. He already had a couple of clones searching the rest of his apartment but so far none of them had found it.

'_Where the hell did I put that thing.'_ Naruto thought to himself.

"Hey Naruto wha-Whoa what the hell happened in here?" Coronamon asked as he and Patamon came into Naruto's room after having spent the last few minutes watching his clones searching the apartment for something. Naruto looked up from his futile searching, all the drawers were out on the floor, everything they once contained scattered around the room, clothes thrown everywhere, and the bed's mattress was half laying on the floor.

"I've sort of been looking for the paper Hata-San gave me last week." Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment at how messy the room became during his search.

"You mean the one that's on the nightstand?" Patamon asked as pointed over toward the nightstand by the bed with a piece of paper on top of it.

'_HOW DID I MISS THAT?' _Naruto shouted inside his head seeing the note he had spent the last several minutes looking for lying right there for the world to see. He gave his two partners an embarrassed, chuckle as a sheepish grin quickly found itself on his face, "I knew that was there." He said lamely

"Sure you did." Coronamon said mockingly as Patamon silently chuckled by his side.

Making a couple more clones to help with the clean up, "Man I can't believe I wasted so much time looking for that thing." Naruto complained.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah you're an idiot we know, now can we ask you something?" Coronamon said more than asked.

A tick mark appeared on Naruto's forehead at the idiot comment but he decided to ignore it…for now, _'You'll regret that Coronamon, I'm not Konoha's prank master for nothing,'_ "Sure, what is it?" said prank master asked no signs of him planning his retribution on the fire lion showing.

"We wanted to know what we were going to do about training tonight, you know with you having to go to dinner at this Hata-San's place." Coronamon replied.

"Huh? I hadn't really thought about that." Naruto replied, "I guess we can cancel the training for tonight, think of it as a reward for all the hard you two have put in this week." He declared. The two digimon silently cheered to themselves happy to have a night off, "Just don't expect to this often got it."

The two digimon gave their confirmation before they returned to the living room to continue watching their most recent TV show. Naruto chuckled to himself, looking at the clock in his room he saw that it was still a bit early. Seeing as he still had time he decided to do the homework that Miss. Asaji had assigned them for the weekend. Even with a couple of Shadow Clones Naruto knew that it would take him a while to finish it all. _'I think I finally understand why Baa-Chan always complained about paper if this is what she had to deal with on a daily basis. I wonder how the others finish all of this.'_ Naruto thought to himself as he sat himself at his desk.

A few hours later Naruto had finished his homework and taken a shower putting on some of the newer clothes he had bought for himself. Stepping into the living room he called out to his partners, "So guys how do I look?" he asked.

Looking over toward their tamer Coronamon and Patamon saw that Naruto was still wearing the replicate necklace of the one Tsunade gave him. He was also now wearing a black jacket with the kanji for Hokage written on the back in orange along with an orange silhouette of the Kyuubi going up his left sleeve. Under that he wore a dark red shirt and black cargo pants with a pair of black converse instead of his usual steel-toed boots. Also instead of his dual crossing belts he only wore one that had the Konoha symbol on it. The final thing that they noticed different was that instead of wearing his fingerless gloves he had his left hand bandaged in order to hide the Digital Hazard.

"Eh you look alright." Coronamon said uninterested as he returned his attention back to the TV, only to get whacked in the back of the head by Patamon, "Hey!"

Patamon ignored the indignant digimon, "You look very nice Naruto." Patamon said politely.

"Thanks Patamon," Naruto said. Looking up toward the clock on the wall he noticed that he should be leave soon if he wanted to have enough time before hand to find the place. "Guess I'll be leaving soon. See you guys when I get back." Naruto said as he made his way toward the front door.

Seeing his tamer making his way toward the door immediately got Coronamon's attention. "Wait your leaving? You haven't made dinner yet. What are we gonna eat?" Coronamon asked almost in a panic as he feared going without food… for a couple of hours. "You can't leave us here without food! We'll starve; we'll die of hunger before the night is over. I think I already feel faint, please I need food." Coronamon pretty much begged.

"Relax Coronamon I've taken care of it." Naruto replied as he silently laughed to himself, he also noticed Patamon was trying to hold his own laughter back. "I got a Shadow Clone in my room working on data manipulation and I've already ordered you guys a pizza to eat and should be here soon."

"Pizza?" the two digimon asked not knowing what the new food was.

"Don't worry you guy's will love it." Naruto reassured as he grabbed a couple of kunais that he had around the apartment and hid them on him, he might be in a different world but it never hurts to prepared in case something unexpected happens. With that Naruto made his way out of the apartment with one final farewell to his partners before closing the door behind him.

* * *

Some minutes later Naruto was standing in front of the gates that lead to Nonaka residence, not that he knew that, with the piece of paper that Seiko had written the address of her home on, he unconsciously noticed that the homes in this area of the city were more traditional than the ones he had seen so far. Knocking on the gates he waited for someone to answer.

He didn't have to wait long as soon after he heard footsteps approaching before the gate doors opened to reveal the smiling face of one Seiko Hata, "Ah Naruto-Kun you're here. Welcome to my home." Seiko said as she stepped to the side to allow the young blond to enter her home. "It's nice to see you again Naruto-Kun." She said closing the gate behind him.

"It is nice to see you to Hata-San; I hope I'm not too early." Naruto said as he rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Not at all Naruto-Kun," Seiko replied as she motioned for the blond to follow her as she led him inside and to the dining room. "Dinner will actually be served soon." She said, "But if you would excuse me there are a couple of things that I still need to take care of and I also need let my granddaughter know to come and eat, but please take a seat this won't take long."

"Alright, please take your time." Naruto said.

With those parting words Seiko went to get Rika and let her know that there guest had arrived and that she should make her way to the dining room. Naruto having taken his seat couldn't help but look around the room, there wasn't much to speak of in the room but even then he could feel the warm atmosphere the room emitted. He had often gone to the Hyuuga compound to spar with either Hinata or Neji whenever there was a break in the war and he could afford to be away from the battlefield to rest. Whenever he visited, while he enjoyed the time he got to spend with his friends, he couldn't help the unease he felt. The Hyuuga were strict and uptight when it came to their traditions and ideals that he was sure that if he ever did something wrong when he went over, that most of the clan would all be saying that they had expected it from him.

But here, though it reminded him much of the Hyuuga compound, there was no sense of being pressured to meet someone else's expectations. This home was far warmer and inviting, if he was honest this was the kind of home he had often imagined he would have grown up in had his parents survived the night of the Kyuubi attack. The kind of home and family that he knew would be there for him should he ever need them, but he could also feel an underlying sense of sadness and loneliness as he sat there. While curious Naruto decided not to look too far into it he had no right to interfere in other people's personal problems.

"Rika?" Seiko called from outside her granddaughter's room as gently knocked on the sliding door. It was only a few seconds later that Rika slid the door open.

"Yes grandma?" She answered in a bored tone.

Seiko gave her a warm smile in return, "Dinner is almost ready and our guest has I arrived, I was hoping you could keep him company while I finished?" she asked.

Rika sighed as she really didn't want to be alone with whoever her grandma had invited over but knew that she couldn't refuse anything she asked of her, "Sure grandma."

Seiko's smile widened, "Thank you Rika." She said before she left heading in the direction of the kitchen, Rika going toward the dining room not long after.

Coming into the dining room Rika was surprised to find the whiskered blond that had been the source of her constant ire as of late sitting at the table. He had yet to notice her seeing as he had his back toward her but she was sure it was him since no one else in Shinjuku seemed to have that same shade of blond, bar Renamon and even then it only seemed to come close.

Stepping closer so she was directly behind the blond she asked the all important question as she crossed her arms over her chest, "What are you doing here Whiskers?" she asked her irritation with the former shinobi making her forget that he was most likely the guest that her grandmother had been talking about.

For his part Naruto already knew that someone had entered the room thanks to his years of training, but even though he had the ability to sense individual people, thanks to his sage training, he still wasn't able to tell anyone apart by their chakra signature having not yet familiarized himself with anyone's signature in the week he had been there. So it only came as a mild-surprise when the person asked their question in a voice he recognized.

Turning around Naruto found a glaring red head just a few feet away from him arms crossed and obviously expecting an answer to her question, "Oh, hi Ri-Chan. How are you?" he asked her with his fox like grin as he completely ignored her question.

"Don't call me that and answer the damn question!" Rika replied and in turn ignored his question.

Naruto found it very hard not to smirk at the female tamer's reaction. He loved messing with the girl he decided she always got so cute when she was angry, _'Wait cute?'_ Taking in the narrowed eyes, the slight scowl on her face, and the red that danced across her face, Naruto had to admit that she was definitely cute when angry, the fact that she would probably only get angrier if she ever found out made it all the harder not to burst out laughing. "Isn't it obvious Ri-Chan?" he answered with a question.

Rika thought it over for a second before her glare seemed to intensify as she narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "Don't tell me you're…" She began.

"Oh that was quick, did you already figure it?" Naruto asked as grinned at her.

"…You're a stalker." She finished. At her answer Naruto's face immediately became aquatinted with the floor, completely taken back by the girl's conclusion.

Getting up from the floor Naruto was quick to deny the girl's accusation, "No! How the hell did you come to that?"

"A fan-boy then." She deadpanned repressing a shiver at the possibility and that there might be one of that not only knew where she lived but was actually in her house.

Naruto crossed his arms in front of himself making an 'x', "NO! Come on Ri-Chan don't even joke about that its ugh a very disturbing thing to say let alone consider." Unconsciously Rika nodded her head in agreement.

"I'm calling the police." Rika stated as she completely ignoring the blond's denial of not being a stalker and any mention of fan-boys. The thing tied for third most evilest thing in the world, right in front of the evil known as paperwork.

"W-what? Wait!" Moving quickly Naruto got between the irate red head and the phone. Seeing that she was about to open her mouth to say something, most likely an order for him to get out of her way, Naruto held up his hands in a sign of surrender. "Fine, I was invited to eat dinner here last week by Hata-San." Naruto explained hoping to placate the fiery red head.

"Wait you're the guy that grandma invited?" Rika asked still a bit skeptical.

"Hai," Naruto replied with a nod as he slowly lowered his hands and relaxed a bit now that it seemed that Rika wouldn't be calling the cops on him. Rika stayed quiet as she stared intently at the blond-red streaked boy to see if she could find any signs of him lying to her.

Before she came to a decision Seiko stepped into the room with dinner. "I see you've met our guest. This is Naruto Uzumaki and he just moved into the city last week. Naruto-Kun this is my granddaughter, Rika Nonaka." She introduced.

"We've met." Rika muttered.

"Oh?" Seiko responded.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "I actually met Ri-Chan at the park last week after we met Hata-San." Naruto replied.

Seiko nodded her head in understanding before turning to look at her granddaughter with a raised eyebrow, "Ri-Chan?" she asked as she looked on amusedly at her granddaughter with a small smile. "I didn't know that you two were on such friendly terms already Rika."

This time the blush that found itself spreading across Rika's face was solely due to her embarrassment. "We're not." She denied. "He just won't stop calling me that."

"Is that so?" Seiko asked, though her smile and the tone of her voice made it plain to see that she thought otherwise. "Please Naruto-Kun take a seat, I'll get the rest of our dinner out here in a minute. Rika could you please set the table?" She asked as she reentered the kitchen.

Fighting down the blush on her face Rika did as she was asked knowing there was no point in trying to argue with her grandmother; though that didn't keep her from shooting the blond one final glare before she left to do what she was asked.

It was moments later that Rika returned with some plates, cups, and silverware. She first set her grandmother and hers' places on the table first before going over toward where Naruto was sitting and putting everything down, almost to the point where she actually slammed it onto the table, before she returned to her seat across the table from the blond doing the best she could to ignore him while shooting him a glare at the same time. Naruto didn't really mind, after growing up in a village that either ignored and or glared at him a fifteen year old girl's glare didn't really affect him. Especially since it lacked the raw hatred the villagers had, her glare was more along the line of irritation then out right anger.

Luckily Seiko soon returned breaking the slightly awkward silence that had fallen between the two tamers. "Here we are." She said placing the dinner on the table as she took her seat at the head of the table. On the table there was now some cooked rice, Miso soup, and some Tonkatsu all and all it all looked and smelled delicious.

"Wow! This all looks great Hata-San; you've really out done yourself." Naruto exclaimed as he stared at the food that was placed in front of him, he could already feel his mouth watering just looking at it.

"Why thank you Naruto-Kun." Seiko replied as she served him his meal before doing the same for Rika and finally herself.

They all held their hands together as if in prayer before they all said, "Itadakimasu." At the same time with varying degrees of enthusiasm. After the first bite Rika could swear that the blond across from her seemed to have stars in his eyes.

"This is definitely amazing Hata-San it just might be better then ramen." Naruto complemented as he took another bite of the delicious food.

"Do you like ramen Naruto-Kun?" Seiko asked.

"Yup it's my favorite." Naruto replied cheerfully.

Seiko smiled at the blond boy's exuberance it was refreshing to have someone so lively to eat with, she of course loved her granddaughter very much but meal times where often spent in silence so having someone to talk to was a nice welcome. "Then I am happy that you like my cooking so much Naruto-Kun. You can come by and join us for dinner whenever you like, with just Rika and me here most of the time we wouldn't mind a bit of company every once and a while."

"I'd love to Hata-San, this way I get to spend more time with Ri-Chan." Naruto replied as he smiled slyly at the red headed girl that hadn't said a word since the beginning of the meal. Rika glared at the blond in return she was mad enough that he now knew where she lived and that he could pretty much come over whenever he wanted but she figured it also had its advantages. She would be able to keep a close eye on the sapphire eyed boy and figure out what he is trying to hide.

"Whatever," Rika replied uncaringly as she took another bite of her food.

"Come on Ri-Chan you make it sound like it doesn't matter if I come over." Naruto said as he feigned being little hurt at Rika's careless dismissal of his coming over.

"I've told you not to call me that." Rika said as he glared at the grinning blond.

"We've already had this conversation Ri-Chan, that's how Rika-Chan became Ri-Chan." Naruto stated. Rika just glared harder refusing to say anything in case he decided to give her another nickname that was even worse than Ri-Chan he came up with last time. Seiko laughed silently to herself at how the two teens interacted with one another she couldn't remember the last time she had talked with someone, that wasn't her, with an indifferent tone.

"Speaking of names," Seiko cut in, "do you mind if I ask you a question Naruto-Kun?" she asked.

"Uh, no go right ahead." Naruto replied

"I was wondering if your parents named you fish cake after the ramen topping." Seiko asked.

When Rika heard the second meaning to Naruto's name she snickered at how funny it was that someone would name their child after a ramen topping. "So your name means fish cake. I guess that would explain why ramen is you favorite food doesn't it fish cake." She said, _'Oh I could have some fun with this.'_

"No, my name means maelstrom not fish cake." Naruto huffed as he crossed his arms. _'Even if Ero-sennin came up with it while eating a bowl of ramen,' _"and my name has nothing to do with why I like ramen." Naruto added.

"Sure it is fishy." Rika replied with a smirk, glad that she now had something on the blond boy for whenever he called her by that nickname he came up with.

Naruto sighed before turning to the elder woman in the room, "Hata-San why did you have to mention that? Now Ri-Chan won't stop calling that," Naruto whined though there was still some amusement evident in his voice.

Closing her eyes Seiko answered the blond while trying to keep herself from laughing, "Now Naruto-Kun if you're going to tease my granddaughter she needs something to tease you back with too." She said before she opening one eye so she could look at her granddaughter, "Isn't that right Ri-Chan?" she teased.

Rika groaned silently as the smirk she wore after learning the second meaning to the blond shinobi's name being wiped off only to be replaced by a frown at hearing the nickname he came up with being said by her grandmother. "Grandma please don't you start calling me that." The red headed girl pleaded.

Seiko laughed with Naruto joining in soon after as Rika seemed to pout of all things, who said you couldn't have some fun as you got older. "Now Rika don't pout, though it does make her quite cute doesn't it Naruto-Kun?" she asked. This served two purposes she of course knew of her granddaughter's dislike for anything 'cute' so being referred to as such had to possibilities either she will become embarrassed by the complement, which is what she hoped for, or she would become angry for being referred to as such, either way it was best to move the attention to the other occupant in the room and there was the second purpose to the room.

"Um, I.. Uh?" Naruto for his part didn't know how he should answer so quickly used to delicious food in front of him to buy him more time. Of course he knew how he was supposed to answer he was supposed to say if either he agreed with Seiko or didn't. The problem wasn't if agreed or disagree it was what would follow his answer that he had a problem with. If he agreed Seiko would have further fuel to add to the fire in terms of embarrassing both tamers and Rika would want to kick his ass, if he disagreed he would be asked why with no answer and Rika, no matter how different she was from other girls, would be insulted for saying she wasn't attractive and would want to kick his ass. He had heard stories of others being in similar situations like this and had learned that it was basically damned if you do, damned if you don't with Rika wanting to kick his ass no matter what he said. "Uh…yes?" he finally answered, though he still was unsure if that was a good idea.

Rika groaned again when she heard him answer and knew that her grandmother would use his answer as another way to embarrass both of them. _'Couldn't he have kept his mouth shut, I'm so going to kick his ass for this'_ she thought, unknowingly causing the boy in question to shiver slightly, as she once more glared at the blond which she started to feel would be a common occurrence throughout the night. "Grandma, please stop it already. It's not like it really matters what this baka thinks anyway." Rika said as her glare intensified in an attempt to keep Naruto from opening his mouth again and giving her grandmother more opportunities to embarrass her. Naruto in response crossed his arms again as he looked down pouting and mumbling about him not being a baka.

Seiko smiled at the little banter that happened between the pair, sure it wasn't the friendliest or kindest of exchanges but when it concerned her granddaughter any kind of exchange with anyone was an improvement. She was tempted to continue to tease the two teens some but she wanted to learn more about the young man that she had invited over for dinner a week ago. "Alright, alright I'll stop… for now." She said adding the last bit almost as if an afterthought before she set her sights at on the only male in the room. "So Naruto-Kun tell us about yourself."

"Like what?" Naruto questioned unsure exactly he would actually be able to say without giving away that he was actually from a different dimension entirely.

"For starters how about you tell us where you lived before coming to Shinjuku?" Seiko replied.

Naruto smiled as memories of Konoha once more resurfaced but he quickly shook them away, this was not the time or place to be lost in his memories of the past. "I was born in a village called Konoha…" he then went on to tell them as much as he felt was safe for him to say. He talked about Sarutobi looking out for him when he was growing up and how he was the Hokage, or the leader of the village, he even took off his jacket to show them the back where the kanji for Hokage was written and how it was his dream to one day become Konoha's leader.

"Does that mean that you'll eventually return to your home village Naruto-Kun?" Seiko asked once she heard how he wanted to become Hokage.

Naruto saddened at the question and knew how impossible that dream really was now. "No, it's complicated but I won't be able to go back."

"I see." Seiko replied, "But what about your friends that live back in Konoha? Don't you have any family left there?" she went on to ask. Seiko's last question caught Rika's attention, now that she wasn't focused on having the blond in her home she realized that he was here on his own. Where was his family? If her grandmother had invited him here then wouldn't that mean that his family was also supposed to come with him.

"Of course I'll miss my friends and I hope that I'll be able to see them all someday but that doesn't seem possible. Besides I have Ri-Chan here to keep me company if get lonely." Naruto said as he gave the amethyst eyed girl his usual grin.

Rika scoffed "Yeah right."

Naruto chuckled before continuing, "As for my family besides my parents and godfather, and they've all passed away already, I don't I don't think I have any other family." He finished.

'_He's an orphan?'_ Rika thought in mental shock while being able to hide it physically. Though she supposed it would explain why he mentioned the leader of his village, the Hokage, watching over him when he was younger.

"I'm sorry for bringing that up again." Seiko said sadly remembering that the blond had mentioned before that his parents had passed away though this was the first she had heard mention of his godfather.

Naruto waved the apology off, "I've already said it is fine Hata-San there is no need to apologize." He replied his grin not once leaving his face though his eyes did dulled a bit at the memory of his parents and Jiraiya. "Oh I almost forgot my dad Minato Namikaze was actually Hokage before he died and was who inspired me to become Hokage someday, though I didn't know he was my dad at the time." He added.

"Wait, Namikaze?" Rika asked her curiosity getting the better her. When Rika asked her question Naruto smiled in her direction because of how curious she was; something that she quickly noticed as she went back to eating her food and acting like she didn't care for the answer one way or another.

"Yeah my parents names were Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, technically my full name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze but because I was Naruto Uzumaki until I learned who my father was that is how I usually introduce myself." Naruto explained. He continued to tell them the same thing he had told Henry and Takato earlier that day about how everyone in the village learned martial arts, catching Rika's interest once more though this time she didn't voice her curiosity, and his favorite pass time growing up pulling pranks.

"There was this one council member that I pulled a prank on once by making him look like a giant chicken." Naruto said as he remembered that day. He pranked the council member partly because of how he would treat him because of the Kyuubi, though he wasn't happy that another person was looking down on him this wasn't the real reason he decided to prank the man. Naruto had heard him talk badly about Sarutobi and how the old man was no longer fit to be Hokage. He could take people talking badly about him, it had been happening for as long as he could remember but for someone to talk badly about Hokage-Jiji that was something he couldn't forgive.

"A giant chicken? That's the best that you could do?" Rika commented in disbelief with all the others pranks he had pulled on others in his home this one seemed to ne real lame in comparison.

Naruto smiled sly the obvious mischief present in his eyes, "Ah, ah of course that's not all Ri-Chan. A giant chicken while funny by itself isn't a good enough prank anymore. That is why I had the feathers smelling like tuna, cat food, and a bit of cat nip." He said grinning hugely, "I had all the cats in the village chasing him for hours. The best part is that when he went to complain to the old man I was hiding under the desk and I heard as the old man told him they couldn't do anything about it since no one had any proof of who pulled it off."

"So no one ever knew that it was you?" Seiko asked.

"I didn't say that Hata-San. The whole village knew that I did it, that's why the councilmen went to complain to Hokage-Jiji, they just couldn't find any evidence that proved that I was the one that did it." Naruto replied. For the next couple of hours that is how they spent their time eating the delicious dinner that Seiko had made and laughing about the pranks that Naruto would pull on varies villagers and how the Hokage was his accomplice on more than one occasion, Rika even found it hard not to laugh at some of the pranks he was able to pull off though she still refused to take an active part in the conversation. He also talked about his friends though he couldn't tell them about the exciting missions that they had gone through he did talk about the D-rank missions or chores as he and all ninja called them and explained how they were a way for the academy to make money for any necessities.

Though Rika had come to terms with the fact that Naruto was there she still was annoyed by his presence so when everyone finished with their dinner she immediately excused herself and left the room. Seeing her granddaughter leave Seiko sighed to herself though the night had gone better then she had originally expected seeing as Rika didn't storm out of the room right after realizing that Naruto would be joining them she still wished that she would have spoken up more than she did.

Naruto watched as Rika left before he stood up from his seat at the table. Turning to Seiko he smiled cheerfully, "Well I think it is about time that I make my way home. Thank you for the meal Hata-San, it was delicious." He said.

"You are most welcome Naruto-Kun, I'm glad that you enjoyed it so much." Seiko replied.

"Um… Hata-San if it is alright with you could I say goodbye to Ri-Chan before I leave?" Naruto asked somewhat shyly.

"Of course Naruto-Kun you can she is probably out on the walkway by the backyard." Seiko answered with a smile.

Naruto thanked the kind women before he made his way in the direction that Seiko had pointed him toward. When he found her she was exactly where Seiko said she would be, leaning against the wooden pole as she stared at the backyard ignoring the rest of the world. "Hey there Ri-Chan." He said with a small wave getting the red heads attention.

"What do you want?" Rika asked her tone demanding as she glared at the blond haired boy as she silently wished he would just leave her alone already.

"Easy, I just wanted to say goodnight." Naruto responded.

"Doesn't look that way," she replied pointing out the fact that he had sat down beside her. He didn't reply straight away choosing instead to silently stare out at the backyard. He saw a small garden off to the side that he assumed belonged to Seiko, there was also a pond with a bridge going over it and for a moment he wondered if there were any Koi fish there. He also took in the few trees and shrubs that were by the wall and the pound, it was all so peaceful. Unlike his apartment that was basically in the middle of Shinjuku surrounded by all the noise one expects from a city, it was relatively quite here. He had already figured that the reason he was so comfortable here was because how similar it was to the world he had left behind.

"You know we're actually a lot alike Ri-Chan." Naruto said after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah right," Rika replied sarcastically

Naruto smiled softly as he understood the girl's disbelief at his statement. "It hurts doesn't it?" He finally asked.

"What are you talking about?" She replied as she was quickly finding herself getting angrier with his inconsistent ramblings.

"It hurts doesn't it," he repeated, "To feel like you're all alone." Noticing that she was about to say something Naruto cut her off before she could get started, "I can see it in your eyes Ri-Chan, all the sadness and loneliness you feel I can see it in your eyes because mine were exactly the same once. You might be able to fool others by acting mean and uncaring but I can tell that's not the real you Ri-Chan. Growing up the people of my village hated me for something that I didn't even know about and that hurt me so I hated them in return. But you on the other hand act cold to everyone to keep them at an arm's length so that they won't be able to hurt you, right?" He said as he stared off into the distance as memoires from his childhood resurfaced.

Rika on the other hand was too shocked and unsure to respond to the boy's words, she wouldn't deny that his words held some truth to them; of course she would never admit to it either, not to him. But could he be right did she act the way she did because she was afraid to be hurt to feel betrayed by someone that she had let in. If he had gone through the same thing she had, or at least something similar, then how they were so different, how could he let others get so close to him and trust them enough not to hurt him in the end. She didn't miss how he said that his whole village hated him when he was younger and how he returned that hatred, so what was different how could he be alone and hated for so long and not be like them? What could he have done to receive that amount of hatred so early on in life, and yet look past it? How could they be so similar to each other and yet so different too?

"I hated them all for such a long time Ri-Chan." He began again, "But because I hated them I was only left feeling more alone. I was left with nothing but hatred for them and eventually even for myself." He spoke sadly remembering things that felt like they had now happened in another life but then smiled a true smile as new memories surfaced, "But then I meet the old man and he became someone very precious to me because for the first time I felt like I didn't have to be alone anymore, that I didn't have to hate everyone and eventually I meet others that also became precious to me. They saved me from my anger, my sadness, my despair, and the darkness I was falling into."

Hearing Naruto speak as he remembered the people that became precious to him was… she really couldn't find a word to describe it, amazing, incredible awe-inspiring she wasn't sure if any of these words could really do him justice at the moment. He spoke with such tenderness and care his eyes gentle and warm and his smile filled with so much joy and life. He seemed to become a different person entirely to Rika. This wasn't like the time when he held after rescuing her from Gargomon or when he promised to change her mind about the digimon he wasn't even the joyful idiot she was forced to spend the entire night with. Right now he was someone else.

"But your still pushing people away." He continued but instead of simply saying it like he was stating a fact, or as a parent scolding their child for doing something wrong, or as someone taking pity on another person he said it with the same tenderness he had spoken with before and a bit of sadness making itself in there. But why? Why was he doing this why was he going out of his way for her? They weren't friends, hell she wasn't even sure that she liked him at all, so why then? "You are still afraid that they will end up hurting you if you allow them to get close. I don't know what happened to you that made you close yourself off from the rest of the world," This wasn't exactly true he admitted to himself, he had noticed that throughout the night that while they had spoken of Rika's mother no mention of her father was ever made and he knew that there could be only two reasons for this. "And I won't ask because I don't have the right to ask such a thing, but you don't have to push people away anymore and you don't have to act cold towards everyone in order to protect yourself. You aren't alone Ri-Chan you have people who care about you and would never do anything to hurt you, Hata-San, Renamon, and your mom they all love and care about you and when you push them away your not only hurting yourself but them as well." Naruto said as Rika looked down at the ground. He knew that that last part might have been just bit harsh but hopefully it would help in getting his point across that she wasn't actually alone

"Why?" she finally asked as she fought to keep her voice steady. "Why are doing this?"

Naruto smiled at her before he stood up, "I already told you," he began before walking forward so he stood a short distance away from the pond in the middle of the backyard, "We are a lot alike so of course I would help you. I understand the kind of pain that you are going through I know how much it hurts to feel all alone. Besides…" turning around he smiled softly at her as the light that came off the crescent moon shone down on him bathing him in its glow, "I am your friend Rika, even if you don't consider me one now, that means that you can count on me to help you out no matter what the situation might be." Having said his piece Naruto made his way back inside, "Good night Ri-Chan... Renamon." He said amusedly as the digital fox appeared in front of her tamer, her eyes only marginally wider than normal showing her surprise that the second Kyuubi knew she was there.

Renamon nodded her head in reply though the blond didn't see it. After Naruto had left the two just stayed there not saying a word to each other one not sure what she could say the other to deep in thought to say anything. After a few minutes Renamon finally tried to start a conversation with her partner. "Rika…" she began tentatively having listened in to the exchange of words that happened between the two tamers.

Rika cut her off "I'm going to bed." She said though her tone of voice was far quitter then what Renamon was used to, nodding her head Renamon bid her tamer a good night before vanishing.

"Thank you for coming Naruto-Kun." Seiko said from the front gate having accompanied Naruto on his way out.

Naruto grinned sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, "There is no for that Hata-San. In fact I should be thanking you for the great food and having me over in the first place." Naruto replied

"Oh it was nice having you over Naruto-Kun please do visit." Seiko responded as she smiled gently at the whiskered blond. She had honestly enjoyed the boy's company. She had also noticed that he was able to get a smile from her granddaughter even if it was only a feint one that lasted only a few seconds.

Naruto smiled in return. "Of course Hata-San," his smile turned a bit more mischievous "especially since I will be able to visit Ri-Chan too." Seiko chuckled as a response it had also not escaped her notice how the young man was able to get her granddaughter to open up more even if it was a result of being annoyed by the blond.

Turning to leave Naruto said his final farewell as he walked out the front gate, "Goodnight Hata-San."

"Goodnight Naruto-Kun." Seiko returned before closing the gate in the process.

Heading back to his apartment Naruto thoughts returned to a certain fiery red head. He had told her that he wanted to be her friend and meant it but he knew that he wouldn't be able to do much to get her to open herself up if she didn't want to change. He hoped that with what he said to her tonight it would at least make it easier on her to open up to him at least about what it is that seems to cause to be cold to everyone.

Naruto sighed again as he looked up at the crescent moon. _'I'll be there to help you no matter what but in the end it'll all depend on you Rika.'_

* * *

**The Next Day**

_Ring…_

_Ring…_

_Ring…_

Coming out from one of the bedrooms was Coronamon as he lazily rubbed the sleep from his eyes haven just woken up from his sleep by the phone going off. After Naruto had gotten home from his dinner at Rika's, which surprised both Coronamon and Patamon to no end, they watched a few episodes of the Digimon series before heading off to bed. He didn't walk far the phone being in the hallway that lead to the bedrooms from the living room.

"Hello, U- "Yawn" Uzumaki residence." Coronamon answered.

"Uh Coronamon?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Yeah," Coronamon responded hearing his name form the other end bringing him further out of dreamland. "Who is this?"

"Coronamon its Takato," The now identified Takato said, "Is Naruto there?" he asked.

"Hm I'm not sure. Around this time I think he goes out for a morning jog though he could have decided to sleep in today." Coronamon said as he scratched his head trying to remember if his blond tamer was in or not.

"Just let him know that I think that I've figured out who was doing those chalk-drawings on the soccer field and to meet Henry and me at Guilmon's shed, alright?"

"Sure thing Takato see you then." Coronamon answered before he hung up the phone. A few minutes later Naruto walked into the apartment slightly sweaty as he took a drink from a water bottle he had with him.

"Hey you guys up yet?" Naruto asked closing the front door and taking off his shoes. Hearing his tamer's voice calling from the front door Coronamon walked over having been in the living room waiting after having made sure the blond shinobi wasn't in his room. "Hey Coronamon, is Patamon still asleep?" He asked when only Coronamon came over when he called out to them.

Coronamon nodded his head, "Yup!"

Naruto nodded in reply as he made his way toward his room, "So did anything happen while I was out? I find it kind of surprising you're awake this early in the day."

"Yeah," Coronamon answered, "Takato called not too long ago."

"Oh. Did he say why he was calling?" the blond questioned as he entered his room seeing as from what he was told yesterday the brunette was supposed to be feeding the schools rabbits around this time.

"He said something about knowing who was making the chalk-drawings and for you to meet him and Henry at Guilmon's shed as soon as you could." Coronamon responded as he stood by the door into the blonde's room.

"Alright then, let me take a shower and change into some clean clothes while you wake up Patamon." Naruto replied.

"Wait what about breakfast?" Coronamon asked as his stomach choose that moment to make itself known. "I don't think I can go on for much longer without having something to eat." He said as he held onto his stomach that was now growling loudly demanding to be feed some of the delicious food that it had been getting to for the past week. Hearing his partner being over dramatic, over breakfast, again, had the blond boy laughing, "What are you laughing at Whiskers?" An annoyed Coronamon asked as he used the nickname Rika had come up with a week ago.

"Again with that Whiskers nickname," Naruto muttered to himself before shaking his head, "Nothing at all Coronamon, don't worry I'll take care of breakfast." Making an all too familiar cross hand sign Naruto channeled a bit of chakra before a copy of himself appeared beside him in a puff of smoke. "You get breakfast started while I take a shower." Naruto commanded his clone.

"Sure thing boss" The Shadow Clone responded as he saluted Naruto before walking off toward the kitchen.

Looking back toward his partner Naruto asked, "Happy now?"

"You bet!" Coronamon replied cheerfully as he headed toward his and Patamon's room, now that he knew that breakfast was being made. Naruto shook his head as he chuckled to himself highly amused by his partner's behavior.

'_Sometimes I think Coronamon could give Choji a run for his money when it comes to eating. And with Patamon it's lucky I have Megidramon and the others paying for the food or I'd be broke by now.'_ Naruto thought to himself as another chuckle escaped him as he entered his bathroom.

A few minutes later the trio made their way out of the apartment having finished stuffing their faces with the omelets that the Shadow Clone had made for them. Naruto now wore Khaki colored cargo pants his black steel toed boots, his belts, a white shirt, his orange and black jacket, **(AN: You know the one he wears in Shippuden.)** and his left hand still bandaged in order to hide the Digital Hazard. It didn't take them long to make their way to Guilmon's home in the park where they found the others at the entrance to Guilmon's shed.

"So Takato, what was this about knowing who made those chalk-drawings at school?" Naruto asked as he climbed the steps up to the shed

"Take a look." The virus tamer answered as he gestured to the inside of the shed where Naruto noticed cries of laughter were coming from. Stepping into the entrance Naruto saw a small white digimon that had big green eyes with purple lining his hands, feet and ears. He also noticed that the little digimon had a red triangle pointing down with three black triangles surrounding it on his forehead. He also seemed to be source of the laughter as Naruto watched the cream puff be sniffed to death by Guilmon.

"So who is he?" the blond tamer inquired as he watched Patamon and Coronamon joined by Terriermon start to play with the giggling digimon who was futilely trying to escape from the reaches of Guilmon's nose.

"He says his name is Calumon." Takato said, "Guilmon and me found him this morning when I went to feed the school's rabbits. The soccer field was drawn on again; Guilmon smelled the little guy and we found him sleeping against the equipment shed."

'_Calumon?'_ Naruto thought as stared down at the small white digimon; Azulongmon's words from over a week ago reverting inside of his head, _'So this is the light of digivolution? Not exactly what I expected, but I guess if you want to hide something so important the less assuming the digimon is the better.'_

"It looks like you were right Naruto," Henry said. At Naruto's questioning glance Henry decided to clarify a bit. "Yesterday you said that the culprit was most likely a little kid, right?" at the blond's nod Henry pointed to Calumon, "That definitely seems like a little kid to me." Looking at Calumon Naruto couldn't refute Henry's words, Calumon was just that a little kid he was still so innocent. The little guy's biggest worry in life was probably not having anybody to play with. He also remembered what Azulongmon had told him about Zhuqiaomon and how he was after Calumon for the power he held within him. His own past with being hunted by the Akatsuki quickly found itself at the forefront of his mind.

'_I won't let Calumon go through what I and the other jinjuriki went through. I'll kick Zhuqiaomon's butt myself if I have to but I will protect Calumon.'_ Naruto thought to himself as he made a promise to look after the young in-training digimon and help him out no matter what.

As if knowing that someone was talking about him Calumon looked up from his position on the ground under Guilmon's nose. Seeing the blond tamer Calumon's ears seemed to expand as he jumped into the air and just seemed to just float there, his eyes seemed to glisten with excitement as he spoke a quick pace making it hard to understand what he was saying. From what he could understand Calumon had been watching the soccer game they had on Monday. He had watched as Naruto moved across the field with the ball, running circles around the other players, in a way that simply amazed the small white digimon and that played a big part in him drawing all over the soccer field as he had hope that people would come and play.

"Then when that one boy stopped the ball with his head, it made me laugh it was so silly. So can we play please? It's no fun playing alone." He asked as he imagined an epic game between the two where everyone came to watch to cheer them both on and when the game was over, with him winning in the end of course, everyone wanted to join in and play too.

"Sorry Calumon." Naruto apologized, "But I have to be somewhere so I can't play with you right now." Seeing how dejected Calumon seemed to get at his answer Naruto tried to think of someway that he could make it up to the little guy, "But that doesn't mean that Patamon and Coronamon can't stay and play with you. And when I get back later I'll join in."

This seemed to excite Calumon as his ears that once shrunk in sadness once more expanded; "Really?" he asked excited which he immediately received a nod of confirmation to. "Yay, Yay lets play." Calumon said as went back over to the other digimon as they started to play some game. Naruto smiled as he watched Calumon get the other four digimon to start chasing him around the small concrete shed before they all rushed outside nearly trampling the three tamers that stood by the entrance.

"Well he seems excited doesn't he?" Naruto asked as the dust that was kicked up by the digimon running by them dispersed, "And I need to get going." He said as turned to face the other two tamers.

"Is it a good idea to just leave those guys running around? What if someone sees them?" Takato asked anxiously, he could already imagine a bunch of black helicopters, tanks, and guys in swat uniforms storming the park in search of the five playing Rookie level digimon.

"Relax," Naruto said nonchalantly as he waved off the goggle head's concern, "I've made sure both Patamon and Coronamon understand that they can't be seen by anyone. They'll make sure that Guilmon and the others stay hidden if anybody comes by, well Patamon will not too sure about Coronamon." He said wistfully as he started off to where ever he was going.

"So you're not going to tell us what you have planned?" Henry called out to his retreating friend. Naruto turned to face them and gave them a mischievous smile in return.

"Sorry guys but like I said it's a secret." He replied as he turned to face forward and went on his way. It was only a few minutes later after making sure that no one was around to see him that Naruto stopped and ducked into an alley, making sure that the sealing scroll he had brought with him when he left his apartment was still in his pocket, before he held his hands up making a hand sign before calling out one of the only two academy jutsus he could use, "Transform." In the whiskered blond's place stood a man that was a few years older than him with spiky white hair, only this man's hair was spiked back, honey brown eyes, slightly paler skin then his, and wearing a dark blue business suite caring a brown brief case. Coming out of the alley Naruto checked himself over making sure that he didn't get anything wrong before he continued walking down the street to the business appointment he was somehow able to set up earlier that week. _'Might as well get this over with,'_ he hesitantly thought to himself, a part of him still not wanting to go through with what he was planning.

* * *

Later that night Naruto and his two partners were back at their apartment having spent the last few hours trying to keep up with the inexhaustible Calumon; even Naruto with his incredible stamina was winded by the end of the day. When he had returned his partners questioned him on what he went off to do seeing as he saw it fit that they were also kept in the dark. He of course refused to answer any of their questions and when Henry and Takato arrived later on he once again refused to answer to any of their prodding choosing instead to say that they would just have to figure it out themselves if they wanted to know.

Naruto was just in the beginning process of making ramen for dinner, much to Coronamon and Patamon's displeasure, when his D-arc went off signaling that a digimon had just bioemerged. Unclipping it from his belt Naruto watched as the arrow appeared pointing in the direction that the unknown digimon had bioemerged from. "Well guys looks like dinner will be put off until we take care of this." Naruto said out loud to his partners that were by the kitchen table as he turned off the stove.

Before they could make their way out of the apartment they heard the phone ring walking over Naruto answered it, "Hello… Takato? ... Calm down I'm sure they're fine… Yeah I was just about to leave… The school?… Most likely… Yeah I'll head over there right away." Hanging up the phone Naruto turned around and was met with the curious eyes of both his partners, "That was Takato apparently Guilmon and Calumon aren't at the shed and he's worried." Naruto explained.

"What he lost Guilmon again?" Coronamon asked as he was on the point of bursting out in laughter at how the boy couldn't keep track of his digimon partner.

"Yeah, and most likely they're at the school seeing as that's where Takato believes the digital field opened up." Naruto finished.

Patamon grew concerned that his friends might be put in danger by the recently bioemerged digimon, "Then we should hurry shouldn't we."

Making sure that he still had his modify cards with him Naruto nodded his head in agreement before leaving the apartment. A few minutes later they finally arrived at the school and found it surrounded by a fog bank. Pulling out his orange tinted glasses Naruto ran straight ahead toward where he heard the sounds of explosions coming from. When he finally got through he found himself by the soccer field, that once again be drawn on, just a ways bit behind of Takato and Henry. Looking toward where his fellow tamers were staring at he saw Guilmon and Calumon running for their lives from the ugliest flying monkey he ever saw.

"This isn't fun anymore." Calumon said as he ran as fast as he could from the

"I don't know what we did but we're sorry can you please stop chasing us now!" Guilmon pleaded as he barely dodged one of the attacks that the little imp sent his way.

The unknown digimon closed its gaping mouth before opening it again and shooting of its attack, "Nightmare Shocker!" From his mouth came a blast of sound waves seemed to come out heading for the two running digimon, jumping out of the way the two were just barely able to avoid being hit.

"Looks like I'm the last one here." Naruto stated, "So who are we dealing with?" he questioned.

"We're about to figure that out." Henry replied as he brought up his D-arc to scan the digimon. "Vilemon its attacks are Nightmare Shocker and Demon Darts, it's a nasty little thing. He's a virus at the Champion level," he read.

"That guy is a Champion level digimon? Kind of small for a Champion isn't he?" Naruto asked.

Vilemon seemed to have heard what the blond shinobi said because he turned to face them with a tick mark appearing on his forehead. "Who are you calling so small that an ant could step on them and not realize it!" he shouted as he waved his arms around in an exaggerated fashion.

'_No one said that,'_ everyone, even Calumon, there simultaneously thought.

"I am known throughout the digital world as one of the most cruel and malicious of digimon. I am stronger then you could ever hope to be tremble in fear. Demon Darts" he finished in a yell as he brought his arms back, before throwing them forward as light blue darts were flung where the trio of tamers and their digimon stood. Reacting quickly Naruto grabbed both Henry and Takato by the scruff of their shirts before he pulled them back and away from the immediate range of impact.

"You can't get away that easily. Nightmare Shocker," Vilemon announced firing off his signature sound wave blast.

"Coronamon, Patamon." Naruto called.

"Right." The two replied in tandem as they jumped in front of the tamers. "Corona Flame," "Boom Bubble." As one the two orange furred digimon launched their attacks in order to intercept the flying imps attack before it could do any damage to their tamer and friends. When the attacks collided it caused a small explosion with the smoke quickly dispersing.

"Our turn, you ready Guilmon?" the goggle wearing asked as he stepped forward D-arc in hand as he picked a modify card from his deck.

"Ready, Takatomon." Guilmon answered.

"Digi-modify… Hyper Wing Activate!" Takato shouted slashing the modify card through his red D-arc. Soon after six glowing white wings appeared on the red reptilians back before he took off into the air.

"Patamon give him a hand." Naruto said once he noticed that Takato intended to make this an aerial battle. Patamon replied by nodding his head before taking off after Guilmon.

Being more used to the concept of flying Patamon was able to reach Vilemon before Guilmon did and decided to take the opportunity to attack, beginning to spin he called out his attack as he neared the small digimon, "Slamming Attack." Vilemon while at first surprised that he was being attacked in his element was quick to recover in order to dodge the flying Rookie's attack. While Vilemon was able to dodge most of the attack and escape harm, Patamon wasn't about to let the small digimon off so easy. Using one of the few things that he was able to learn from Naruto in their one week of training he channeled more of his energy into the attack making the range of the attack expand slightly as he was right beside Vilemon. Vilemon not expecting that Patamon could do such a thing had only moved enough to dodge the attack, so when the energy sphere's range expanded it was able to hit one of his wings.

"Damn you, you flying pest." Vilemon cursed as his wing throbbed in pain. He was so distracted by Patamon that he had forgotten about the fact that Guilmon was right behind him. The Pyro Sphere he received to his back quickly reminded him of the flying red raptor. When he hit the ground Vilemon quickly recovered from the fall, looking up he watched as Guilmon landed in front of him with the wings disappearing and Patamon landing beside him. He scowled as best he could as he glared at the gathered digimon. "Don't think it will be that easy you haven't beaten me yet." Jumping back up into the air, though with a lot more trouble because of his hurt wing; Vilemon prepared another of his Nightmare Shockers.

"Terriermon it's your turn." Henry announced as be brought out his own D-arc and a modify card.

"Well it's about time." Terriermon replied as he jumped off from his perch on Henry's shoulder.

"Here let me help you out." Naruto said as he unclipped his D-arc and modify card. "Ready Coronamon?" he said to his other partner who gave a quick "Hai." And nod of his head.

Slashing the card both tamers said the cards name,

"Digi-modify… Speed Activate!"

"Digi-modify… Speed Activate!"

With the speed granted to them through the modify cards Terriermon and Coronamon ran over toward Vilemon faster than they normally would be able to. Jumping up Terriermon head butted Vilemon forcing the imp to miss his targets. Coronamon then appeared behind him and with a quick twist and turn and with a cry of "Coro Knuckle," brought a flame covered fist down on the virus level Champion digimon sending him hurtling toward the ground.

Rising from the small, _very small_, crater that he made when he impacted with the ground Vilemon once more looked up to see all the digimon staring him down waiting for his next move. Feeling the blow to his pride that a bunch of Rookies were beating him Vilemon forced himself to stand as he prepared his Demon Darts.

"You're kidding right?" a new voice spoke up that was familiar to a majority of those present, "This thing is pathetic but a fight is a fight, Renamon."

Turning to look toward where the voice came from everyone saw Rika standing not that far off from the battle with Renamon in a ready position.

"Ha you think you can beat on your own?" Vilemon asked with disdain, "Don't think just because you're girls I'll take it easy on you." Jumping as high as he could with his injured wing Vilemon pulled his hand so went across his chest before throwing it forward, "Demon Darts!" he shoute

Rika didn't even bat an eye at the incoming attack as she pulled out her D-arc and a card, "Digi-Modify…. Clone Activate."

'_Wait, did she just say _clone._'_ Our favorite blond hero thought excitedly to himself. _'Now there is a card I just have to get!'_

When Vilemon fired off his attack instead of hitting Renamon it hit the clone putting him off guard believing that he had managed to delete the vulpine digimon in one hit. "Now do you see? My strength is unmatched." He gloated once he had landed.

"What I see." Rika replied with obvious contempt, "is that you need to have your eyes checked. Look above you" she said as she pointed far above the conceited little digimon. Turning around, Vilemon only had a second to register that Renamon had managed to completely evade his attack before his vision was swarmed by hundreds of diamond shards.

"Diamond Storm" Renamon said and with a flourish of her arms the diamond shards made their descent toward the stunned Champion before completely overtaking him, and not a second later he burst into data that Renamon quickly absorbed without giving it a second thought.

Not wanting to be anywhere near the blond tamer after yesterday's events Rika turned to leave with not even one snide comment toward the male tamers. "Let's go Renamon, there's no point in wasting our time here with these losers." She said. Though she intended to leave as quickly as possible she didn't get her wish when Takato spoke up.

"How could you?" He asked in an agitated tone. "He was a living being and you just deleted him without even thinking twice about it."

Rika was about to reply before she was cut off before she could say anything by Naruto, "That's enough Takato." Everyone turned to look at the whiskered boy in slight surprise.

"But Naruto…" Takato began.

"No." Naruto said in all seriousness, "I understand that you are upset Takato, but there really no other choice. If she didn't delete Vilemon we would have to otherwise he wouldn't have stopped anytime soon." He explained. Takato while reluctant to accept that Naruto had a point finally conceded that he was right so he nodded his head to show that he understood. Seeing that Takato had accepted what he said and that Henry had as well, though neither seemed to happy about it, Naruto looked back toward the only female tamer, and thanked her for the help.

Still refusing to make eye contact with the blond Rika turned back around before she replied. "There is no point in thanking me I only did it for the data." She said in her usual cold and uncaring tone, though there was something more in her tone of voice that none of the others could place. Takato was about to speak up about how she could be so cruel to kill a digimon just to get their data but Naruto anticipating that one of his friends would have spoken up in protest raised his hand to forestall any arguments.

Deciding that she had wasted enough time Rika started to make her leave but feeling a tug at the bottom of her pants she looked down to find Calumon staring up at her with his innocent big green eyes completely ignorant of the events that just happened or the tension that remained between the tamers, "Want to play" he asked hopeful that the girl would become a new friend of his, after all you could never have enough friends. "Well do you?" Rika stared down at the little cream puff unsure about what she should do or say.

"Get away from him!" Takato said as he stepped forward determined to not let the Digimon Queen hurt his friend. Rika looked back toward the goggle headed tamer the uncertainty clear in her eyes and maybe a tinge of regret but for what it was impossible to tell. She saw how Takato seemed to lose the nervousness that he always seemed to have whenever they had meet before, and how Henry was watching her carefully incase she or Renamon tried anything against the Calumon. Mustering up as much courage as she could Rika turned to look at a cerulean eyed, blond haired red streaked boy for the first time that night. Uncaring cold blue eyes with a tinge of hatred as they watched her ready to act should it seem she intended to harm his friend that is what she expected. Instead she found herself looking at a pair of eyes that weren't judging her with a cold look about them, instead they showed kindness toward her showing that he believed in her and that she wouldn't do anything to threaten Calumon and the smile that he had was different from the usual fox like grins he wore. It was warm and welcoming and it was exactly like the one he had given her the other night, when he had said…

Rika mentally shook her head in order to get rid of that train of thought; she didn't need thoughts like that filling her head at the moment. With one final wary glance at the former Jinjuriki Naruto before turning to leave and sidestepping Calumon in the process. Naruto seeing the red headed girl leave silently sighed to himself, he knew that he shouldn't expect any immediate changes in the girl but he would be lying if he didn't admit he had hoped for it. Oh well he'll just have to get the girl to open up, after all he had promised her and himself to be her friend and get her to see the truth about digimon.

Looking around another thought found itself coming to him, _'What are we going to do about all these holes?'_

* * *

"**UZUMAKI!"**

The first thing Naruto herd when he got home that night after dealing with Vilemon was the familiar, if not still frightening, voice of Megidramon coming from his room. Naruto sighed knowing that tone of voice anywhere it's the, "Naruto what have you done now?", that he heard quite often from both Tsunade and Sakura whenever he screwed upped. Walking into his room, with Coronamon and Patamon following close behind, Naruto made his way over to the desk in his room where he had left the laptop and opened it to see the all too familiar red Digital Hazard symbol on the screen that signified that Megidramon had opened the connection that he set up to talk to him.

"Yo, what happened to the not contacting me for a while?" he asked curiously since the last time Megidramon contacted him he had said it would be the last for a time, "It hasn't even been a week yet."

"**I don't have time for that! Tell me has that boy or the Guilmon activated the piece of the Digital Hazard they hold." **Megidramon snapped back fiercely, the screen glowing a darker red as if responding to Megidramon's anger and impatience.

Seeing how serious Megidramon was being _'Well he is always serious.'_ and that it involved the Digital Hazard and his friends immediately got Naruto attention. "As far as I can tell Takato and Guilmon still have no clue about anything dealing with the Digital Hazard."

"**Then what did you do!"** Megidramon demanded.

"What? What do you mean what did I do? I haven't done anything!" Naruto replied angry that he was being accused of doing something he hadn't done. "I haven't even gotten through the first part of data manipulation yet."

"**RAWWWWWR," **Megidramon roared his frustration the sound rebounding off the walls and making the three occupants of the room cover their ears in hopes of blocking off the horrible sound.

'_Argh! Damn that's loud.'_ Was the shared thought between the three of them, "Megidramon what the hell is going on? You're way angrier than you usually are." Naruto asked determined to figure out what had the virus type dragon so on edge.

"**The portal,"** Megidramon growled out his anger still evident but understanding that this information is something that Naruto needed to have so he would know to be on guard in case something happened soon.

"Portal? What Portal?" Coronamon asked, this being the first he heard anything about a portal, with Patamon nodding his head beside him as he was also confused by what his tamer and one of the Four Great Dragons were talking about.

"**The portal that the other Great Dragons and I created so Uzumaki could get any of his world's ninja gear when the time came that he needed it. The problem was that we hadn't been able to stabilize it making it a safe a secure passage between the Digital World and the Shinobi World." **Megidramon answered wanting to get all explanations to the two rookie digimon out of the way so he can get onto what caused him to contact the blond tamer sooner then he intended.

"What happened to the portal and how is the Digital Hazard involved in any of it?" Naruto asked worriedly, already knowing how the portal was unstable and concerned what kind of problems it could be causing and how it might be because of him.

"**It's gone."** Megidramon stated simply though his displeasure was still obvious, **"The reason I believed that you or the other tamer boy were involved was because of the faint data signature that is unique to the Digital Hazard."** Megidramon explained.

"So what did this portal suddenly decide to go poof?" Coronamon asked.

"**No, if the portal had collapsed in on itself either I or one of the others would have sensed it happening."** Megidramon said as he began to calm down a bit, **"It is more likely that it was how so moved by someone, the fact that we found the data signature belonging to the Digital Hazard there only makes this possibility all the more likely."**

"But didn't you help create the portal through the Digital Hazard?" Naruto asked a bit confused, when Megidramon gave his confirmation he continued his train of thought, "Then isn't it possible that the Digital Hazard signature you found could have been from when you were making it?"

"**Fool do you think I would be so careless. Why did you think I checked up on you those first few days, because I wanted to make sure you were adjusting well, I was making sure the Digital Hazard wasn't reacting in a negative way. I did the same thing for the portal."** Megidramon let out a sigh or at least what seemed like a sigh to the three, **"When I last checked it all signs of the Digital Hazards' signature presence had already vanished before then and the little power I used to create the portal through the Digital Hazard had become permanently inactive and was a day or two from disappearing as well. This means that only someone who has access to the power of the Digital Hazard could have taken the portal without anyone knowing. I came here hoping it was either you or your friend that way I had an excuse to roast you alive for messing with something you shouldn't, but apparently that isn't the case." **Megidramon said as he finished in an almost disappointed tone of voice.

Naruto gulped nervously when he heard what Megidramon had planned for him and how disappointed he seemed to be. Letting out a nervous chuckle Naruto tried to steer the conversation away from talks of him being left a smoldering pile of ash. "But who else could use the Digital Hazard then? And what are we going to do when I run out of kunai and shuriken later on?" Naruto asked.

"**For your latter question thanks to the recent peace in the Eastern quadrant Azulongmon has been able to get in contact with a Shogungekomon who has agreed to get a few of the digimon living under his rule to make you your ninja gear." **Megidramon answered.

"Shogungekomon?" Naruto questioned not knowing which digimon Megidramon was talking about. Megidramon didn't bother answering the blond's question verbally choosing to instead to bring up a file from the digimon data base that was on the laptop. The window that opened showed a giant orange toad with a yellow belly with a cross shaped bandage over its belly button, with leaves acting as a sort of collar around his neck, whiskers, and purple hair over its head that was connected to a sort of tentacle. The last thing of note was the two instrumental horns that seemed to come out of its shoulders. Reading the information on the digimon in question Naruto learned that it was Ultimate level virus type digimon that was famous and infamous for its singing voice. His attacks were Musical Fist also known as "Samurai Tone" from time to time and Frog Kick.

Megidramon stayed silent for a few more seconds as he contemplated how to answer Naruto's last question,** "If you recall Uzumaki when we brought you to this world we told you that the tamers would be facing an evil they might not be able to handle on their own."** Naruto nodded his head showing that he remembered, **"This is most likely to work of that evil. The fact that this enemy digimon also has the power of the Digital Hazard narrows down the possibility of who it is and makes things much more difficult than what we all originally thought."**

"Then you know who it is Megidramon-Sama?" Patamon asked.

"**Yes but that is none of your concern at the moment." **Megidramon replied, **"I will have to talk to Goddramon about this, in the mean time don't let your guard down not even for a moment." **He ordered.

"What do you mean is none of our concern?" Naruto shouted at the screen, "Whoever this is has taken control of the portal, has the power of the Digital Hazard, and intends to destroy this world you can't expect us to sit around and do nothing."

"**Baka I said it was none of your concern because as it stands there is nothing either you or your partners can do about it. We don't know what he has done with the portal, where it's been taken, or what his plans are for it. NOT only that but it should have been impossible for him to have any influence seeing as he was supposed to have been locked away and that is why I'll be speaking to Goddramon."** Megidramon answered his anger once again rising at having to explain himself to the blond ningen. He didn't hate humans like a certain sovereign did but he would not be questioned by **anyone.**

"Fine," Naruto relented "At the very least tell us who this guy is. We deserve to know that much at the very least."

"**Very well," **Megidramon growled out, **"His name is… Lucemon."**

* * *

Deep within the depths of the Digital World in a place that is shrouded in unending darkness, where no life seemed to exist and the terrain was nothing more than ragged torn pieces of earth littered with caves and jagged stones. Where the sky; was hidden behind a thick swirling fog that seemed to rise from the very earth itself only to fall back down to it. In one of the isolated caves of this dark realm that was cut off from the few inhabitants, except for a chosen few, a swirling vortex of black data appeared, fragments of red data seemingly splitting off from the vortex only to fall back into the vortex moments later. Within the vortex faint images of the Elemental Nations appeared, Kiri, Iwa, Kumo, Suna, Valley of the End, the ruins of Uzu, and finally Konoha. All flashed in the vortex before they once again disappeared into static, when an image once more returned it no longer showed the Elemental Nations but the city of Shinjuku before it to became nothing but static.

Miles away in one of the few structures that existed, a lone figure sat on a throne that was cut from pure white stones contradicting the structure that was made of blackest of stones. The figure was shrouded in shadows making it impossible to try and make out any distinguishing features, within the palm of his hand a ball of white light showed the portal. An unseen smile crept onto the figures face, the light being emitted from the ball of light only serving to emphasize the shadows that surrounded him. _"Soon very soon everything will fall into place. Then nothing will stand in my way. Isn't that right my brethren?" _The figure asked as five silhouettes materialized from the darkness.

.

.

.

"_Yes very soon."_

* * *

**AN: There finally finished this. Now the next chapter is going to be different because instead of episode where Renamon digivolves for the first time I am going to push that back in order to develop the relationship between Rika and Naruto some more. Lastly seeing as how it is unlikely I'll get another chapter up soon I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate around this time of year, and a Happy New Year. **

**Please remember to review to let me know what you think.**


	6. Bad Fire Breathing Dino!

**AN: Finally finished this chapter. I had originally meant to get this up about two weeks ago but with school piling on the work lately I haven't had time to really work on this expect for the weekends. The fact that there are three or four other ideas for stories still running around my head doesn't help. Anyway on with the next chapter of Shinobi of the Digital Hazard!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or Digimon, if I did Naruto wouldn't be such an idiot or limited to such few jutsus, I mean seriously the hero is supposed to have hundreds of techniques to kick ass with. And Digimon wouldn't be going down the drain like it has with these last few seasons.**

* * *

Bad Fire Breathing Dino!

**(Crappy title but it's all I can think of.)**

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

"**Megidramon or anything else I feel like"**

**(Author Notes)**

"I think I finally get why Shikamaru liked cloud watching so much, it is really relaxing." Naruto said as he lay stretched out on the roof of the school; having decided to send a reinforced clone back to class in his place after the school tried to get the students to eat that toxic waste they are trying to pass off as food.

It had been a few weeks since his dinner at the Nonaka's, the small incident with Vilemon, and meeting Calumon. In that time he had visited Seiko and Rika a few times, much to the former's delight and the latter's ire. He had also finished watching the first digimon series and started the second season, as well as getting a good grasp on how to play the card game from the many times he has played against Henry, Takato, and whenever he could get the her to agree, Rika.

Patamon's and Coronamon's training had improved over the last few weeks as well. The two digimon's stamina had vastly improved from what it was when they had started; being able to fight Naruto for a longer period of time during their spares. The Rotation variation they had been working on for Patamon could now defect Coronamon's Corona Flame along with Naruto's kunai and shuriken. Though they had learned that the defensive move only lasted a few seconds against attacks like Coronamon's Coro Knuckle before it resulted in an explosion. They had also been able to make his Boom Bubbles stronger by compressing them into a smaller size so they held more power in them, and were now able to fire it at a much faster rate than before.

Like Patamon Coronamon had also improved over the last few weeks. The first thing that improved was Coronamon's ability to control his fire attacks so that he could now create duo flames when using Corona Flame instead of just one, or use both his hands to create a bigger Corona Flame. Naruto had also taught him some more Taijutsu for when Coronamon had to fight other digimon in close range combat. They had also began improving Coronamon's speed, for right now Naruto only had Coronamon running more laps around their training ground than usual, but he was considering using some weight seals on Coronamon to help, but that was still at the very least a couple months away before he felt it safe enough for Coronamon to use this training method.

Those weren't the only things to happen in the last few weeks. His problem of finding a way to earn money on his own was solved, both to his great relief and regret, with the publishing of the first book in the Icha Icha series. Naruto was very thankful that his meeting on Saturday had gone well, and that it seemed that the male population seemed to be just as perverted in this world as it was in his own, he could only imagine what would have happened if his meeting had been with someone of the opposite sex. He had also chosen to have the book published under the alias The Toad Sage, both to honor his sensei and godfather, Jiraiya, and to keep him safe from the enraged females that were sure to appear with the book's release.

But what he was really proud of was the second objective that he accomplished and would be coming out in a couple of weeks. It was a book that he had written in memory of Jiraiya called _**"The Gallant Jiraiya"**_, a lot of what he had written in the book was based on the journals that Jiraiya had written starting since the day he became a genin and right up to the point when he went off to infiltrate Ame and his final battle with Pein, though the book would only go up to his first meeting with Nagato and the others. Naruto was given the journals by the toads one time while taking a break from learning Fuuinjutsu, which came surprisingly easy for him he figured it, was his Uzumaki blood, at Mount Myōbokuzan. The book would be released under the alias Arashi Kazama, he decided it was best to use a different alias incase people didn't buy his book just because the author was the same as the one who came up with Icha Icha series.

"_**The Gallant Jiraiya"**_ was only going to be the first book of three that he planned on releasing; the second one would be about his fellow pupil under Jiraiya, Nagato, and would be from the moment he lost his parents and obtained the Rinnegan to Yahiko's death and Nagato's descent into darkness. The last book would be about him, his life as the Kyuubi's jinjuriki, and all the adventures he had. Out of all three books the last one would probably be the most challenging to write. Since there would be the danger of someone being able to make a connection to him and figure out that it was real. He also needed titles for both books.

Looking up at the sky trying to figure out what the time was from the position of the sun; Naruto noticed that it was almost time for school to be let out. Since he didn't need to be anywhere right now, seeing as Takato had to help out at his parent's bakery and Henry needed to take care of his little sister, he decided he would visit his favorite red head and anno… err, keep her safe on her walk home, yeah that sounds right. He'd have to have his clone dispel in a janitors closet or something. This would also keep him safe from any fan-girls that were stalking him on his way home. _'I mean who the hell does that?' _Naruto thought as a shiver ran down his spine, as he remembered a couple of them following him the other day with a crazy obsessed gleam in their eyes.

_Meanwhile back in Konoha_

For no apparent reason a certain Hyuuga heiress sneezed, she looked around for a second before shrugging her shoulders before continuing on her way reminiscing about the days she would stalk… uh follow no that's not right either… unknowingly cheer on her blond obsses- CRUSH! Yeah crush.

_Back to Shinjuku_

His decision made Naruto stood up dusted himself off before disappearing in a burst of speed.

* * *

Rika Nonaka was having a bad day. Of course any day she had to go to her stupid school was a bad day. There was a reason behind Rika's hatred for the school, besides the fact that it was a school. It had to little to do with the school itself; it was actually one of the best private schools in all of Shinjuku. It had more to do with the other girls that went to the school. To put it simply they embodied everything Rika disliked. Their world seemed to revolve around three things: Fashion, boys, and gossip. Having to constantly listen to them talk about one of the three subjects made Rika wants to gag.

She couldn't stand going to this school, but as much as she, and the other girls, wanted to change schools she just couldn't or more accurately she can't transfer schools, but the reason why isn't something that Rika wanted to think about right after getting out of school for the day. As she approached the gates to her school the faint whispering of the other girls didn't really register in Rika's mind, but the closer to the gate she got the more the whispers seemed to increasingly grow in volume and number. _'Can't they ever keep their mouths shut?'_ Rika angrily thought to herself.

"Yo Ri-Chan," The familiar voice and nickname caused Rika to stop in mid-step, as her eyes widened slightly in surprise and the whispers of the girls around them became so loud they hardly counted as whispers anymore.

The whispered questions of,

"Who is he?"

"What's he doing here?"

"How do they know each other?"

Were some of the few that reached Rika's ears, who had yet to move a muscle since hearing Naruto's voice.

'_Please not here.'_ Rika all but begged to any deity that would listen to her as she slowly turned her head toward the source of the voice, only to have her prayers ignored. There with his legs crossed on the stone pillar at the entrance of the school Naruto sat lazily, eyes closed with his fox like grin in place, as he waved his hand at her in greeting. Rika could feel her eyebrow twitching at the blond's casual way of greeting her with that damnable nickname. Not even bothering to reply Rika turned away from the blond ignoring him completely and continued walking. It took a few seconds before Naruto realized that Rika had left without saying anything.

"Oi, Ri-Chan chotto matte!" Naruto called after her as he jumped down from his perch and rushed to catch up with the red headed girl, who had quickly sped up when she noticed that he had started after her. "You can be real mean when you want to be Ri-Chan, not even saying hello to your best friend like that." He said with his hands behind his head easily keeping up with her.

Rika scoffed in reply as she slowed down to walk at a normal pace, already knowing how pointless it would be to try and out run the boy walking beside her. "Who says we're friends?" Rika muttered.

"Do you know what Seiko-Obaachan is making for dinner?" Naruto questioned with a thoughtful look on his face ignoring Rika's muttering.

Rika scowled slightly at having Naruto ignore her question "You are **NOT **staying?" Rika replied irritably, "and don't call her that Fishcake no Baka, like it's not bad enough you spend so much time over at my house." She grumbled out in the end.

"Fine, fine I won't stay."Naruto promised, "I have somewhere else to be anyway." He said unconvincingly.

"Uh hu, sure you do." Rika replied the sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Well whatever, there is something much more important that I need to talk to you about anyway." Naruto said his carefree attitude disappeared and he became very serious, as he stared intently at Rika. The sudden change caught Rika by surprise because in the weeks that she had known him, Naruto had only acted this way one other time. The night he first came over for dinner.

"W-what is it?" Rika asked feeling inexplicably nervous at the sun-kissed blond's behavior.

"You should really consider wearing skirts more often." Naruto answered in the same serious tone.

"W-What?"

"You should wear skirts more often," Naruto repeated himself, back to his usual self, having been secretly checking out the red head out from the corner of his eye as they walked. "You have a set of really nice legs Ri-Chan; it would be a shame not to see them more often." _'Especially what those lovely long legs are attached too.' _Naruto thought to himself in the end the grin on his face being a cross between his usual fox like grin and his godfathers perverted one.

Rika's face burned red at the whiskered boy's admission, though like any other time the blond caused her face to go red it was impossible to tell if it due to embarrassment or anger. In the end anger seemed to win out, again, as she sent Naruto a heated glare. "You-You PEVERT!" she yelled as she aimed a kick at the still grinning fool. Naruto had half expected the easily irritated girl to react this way so was more than prepared to dodge her kick.

Naruto chuckled as he dodged another kick, "Just because I gave you a compliment doesn't make me a pervert Ri-Chan." _'Well not a total pervert anyway.'_ "Besides," he continued, "Is it really a good idea to try and kick my head off while in a** skirt**?" he asked while stressing the last word. Rika stood in stunned silence, as his words took a moment to register in her mind. His next comment, as he took a thoughtful pose, knocked her out of her shock "Though I never expected them to be white, Ri-Chan. Just doesn't seem you."

Rika's face soon matched her hair color, as she once more tried to hit the blond in hopes of wiping that damnable grin off his face, though she made sure that she only threw punches at him this time. "Shut up Ero-baka!"

Naruto took the new nickname in stride as he let out a chuckle and sidestepped one of Rika's punches, "You shouldn't blame me just because you embarrassed yourself Ri-Chan."

"I'm not embarrassed now hold still so that I can hit you!" Rika replied.

"You'll have to catch up to me if you want to hit me." Naruto said as he turned around and took off in a run with Rika quickly chasing after him. Up in the roof tops Renamon wondered if she should be laughing at the blond shinobi's actions, and how easily he seemed to get a rise out of her tamer, or concerned that he seemed to like making Rika so angry; but she was sure of one thing. Humans were very strange creatures.

Opening the front gate, someone having knocked on it not too long ago, Seiko found herself face to face with Naruto. Seiko smiled at the blond in greeting glad to see he had decided to visit, having grown fond of the boy from his previous visits to her home.

"Hi Seiko-Obaachan," Naruto greeted her with a way of his hand.

Seiko gave a faint chuckle at the name the cerulean eyed boy had started to call her by in the last few weeks. She was sure that one of the main reasons he did call her that was because of how Rika reacted to it, she had admit she had been awhile since she had seen Rika be anything but indifferent to the world around her. "Hello Naruto-Kun. If you're looking for Rika I'm afraid that she still hasn't gotten home from school." She apologized.

Naruto gave her a grin as he scratched at the back of his head, "Yeah I know, but she should be here right about… now!" he said dramatically pointing toward the street corner where Rika appeared gasping for breath.

"Finally (gasp) caught (gasp) you." Rika said in between breaths.

"You didn't really catch me if I stopped Ri-Chan." Naruto replied amusedly as he watched the red headed girl struggle to catch her breath.

"Are you alright Rika?" Seiko asked worriedly only for Naruto to reply before Rika could answer.

"She's fine. She is just a little out of breath from a bit of exercise." Naruto said causally.

"I see," Seiko replied though there was a hint of confusion in her voice. "Well come in you two I'll get some snacks ready. Will you be staying for dinner tonight, Naruto-Kun?" she asked as she led to two teens inside.

"Not today Seiko-Obaachan, I have some things that I need to do." Naruto answered.

"Oh that's too bad." She said. "Maybe next time then,"

"Sure." Naruto agreed with a smile, ignoring the fact that Rika, having by now caught her breath, was now trying to glare a hole in the back of his head.

"I'll be in my room." Rika said the moment that they had stepped into the house, as she walked passed her grandmother.

Seiko nodded her head as she gave her granddaughter a small smile. "Alright dear, there will be some snacks and tea for you in the kitchen if you want any."

Naruto had made to follow the red head only to be stopped by her next words, "And you better stay away from my room Fishcake." without even turning around.

"Oh? And here I came all this way to hang out with Ri-Chan." Naruto said with a sigh before a sly smile found its way onto his face, "That's fine." He began with a shrug of his shoulders, "I'll just hang out with Seiko-Obaachan. I'm sure she could show me some baby pictures along with telling me a story or two, right?" he finished as he stared at the older women questioningly, who was finding it hard to keep her composure at his antics, but was able to nod her head in reply.

For the second time in the last hour Rika stood frozen mid-step. She had clearly heard what the blond said and could only imagine, in horror, the things her grandmother would and could tell the mischievous blond. Her grandmother would of course not mean to embarrass her, but what parent/grandparent didn't embarrass their child/grandchild. It was a fact of life that every child is eventually embarrassed in front of their friends, not that Rika considered the cerulean eyed boy her friend. Knowing that it would be inevitable Rika hurried off to her room without saying a word.

Naruto chuckled as he watched Rika run toward her room. "If you're going to make tea Seiko-Obaachan," Naruto began as he turned to look at the elderly women, "I think we're going to need an extra cup since Ri-Chan's decided to join us." He finished with a large grin. And truth to word, not even a minute later Rika had sat herself at the table the Nonaka's had in their living room with a cup of freshly made tea in front of her. Naruto laughed silently as Rika did her best to intimidate him into not asking anything and leaving quicker through her glare. "Change your mind Ri-Chan?" Naruto asked innocently.

"Be quite." She muttered in response.

Naruto let out a small chuckle before he turned his gaze toward Seiko. "So how about those stories now Seiko-Obaachan?" he asked.

"Well where should I start?" She asked thoughtfully, "Ah I know. When Rika as about three years old she would carry this stuffed rabbit wherever she went."

"Really?" Naruto questioned in wonder as Rika's face did a good impersonation of a tomato.

"Grandma please don't." Rika pleaded hoping to stop her grandmother from further embarrassing her.

"Why not dear? You were so cute with how you used to hold it close to you." Seiko said as she recalled the past. "You even gave it this adorable little name, what was it again? Flopsy… Mr. Whiskers," Naruto let out a snort of amusement when he heard this and Rika's face burned an even brighter red, "Thumper, Mr. Cotton Tail, Fluffy, Bouncer, Hoppy, Moppsy. No those aren't right."

Rika grumbled something out but it was impossible to make any sense of it.

"What was that dear?" Seiko asked smiling.

Rika refused to look at either of the two occupants of the room in the eye as she answered. "Its name was Flopsy Woppsykins."

"Oh that's right." Seiko said as she finally remembered the elusive stuffed rabbit's name, as Naruto started to laugh softly. They all then heard a ding come from the kitchen. "Oh!" Seiko exclaimed, "That will be the cookies I set to bake. I'll be back in just a moment." She finished as she excused herself from the table.

For a while neither teen spoke, one due to embarrassment the other because he was trying not to burst out laughing.

"So…" Naruto started after a bit.

"I swear if you ever mention this to anyone." Rika said leaving her threat hanging.

Naruto waved her threat off, "I won't tell anyone." He promised. Rika was staring at him carefully before she slowly nodded her head accepting he wouldn't mention it to anyone, "Though should I warn Terriermon to be careful around you?" He asked teasingly. "Personally I don't know if he'd prefer to be called Flopsy Wopsykins by you or Pwincess Pwetty Pants by Henry's sister." He finished with a large grin in place.

Before Rika could say anything back Seiko returned with a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies "Here we go." She said placing the plate full of cookies at the center of the table. Looking at the two teens she found her granddaughter once more glaring at the blond haired boy. "Did I interrupt something?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and a small smile on her face.

Naruto reached out for one of the cookies and answered before he took a bite, "Not at all Seiko-Obaachan." After stopping to enjoy the delicious treat he continued. "So what other stories can you tell me?" he asked eliciting a groan from the amethyst eyed girl who sat beside him.

"Well there was this one time when she was four that…" And so the next couple of hours were full of stories that Seiko told about when Rika was a little girl, which were quickly followed with baby pictures. By the time Naruto left Rika's face was redder than even her hair could ever be. She had to threaten the whisker marked boy again when he had asked for one of the baby pictures.

* * *

Opening the door to his apartment Naruto had to immediately duck his head in order to avoid being hit in the face by a fireball. "What the hell was that for Coronamon?" Naruto yelled at the small Pyro digimon.

"What do you think?" Coronamon fired back, "I'm hungry, bored, and you should have been home hours ago."

"Well you should have found something to do here. Besides I taught you how to make ramen, why didn't you eat some of that?" Naruto asked.

"I burned it all." Coronamon deadpanned.

Naruto dropped his bag on the floor before rushing toward the kitchen. The first thing he saw when he got to the kitchen was Patamon standing beside a pile of ash on the floor. Naruto walked slowly toward the pile before he dropped to his knees. "Why?" he said in a whisper.

"I'm sorry Naruto." Patamon apologized, "I didn't know what he was going to do until it was too late to stop him."

"It's alright Patamon." Naruto said monotonously. He looked closer at the pile of ash and saw that one cup of ramen had survived but when he reached out to grab it, it turned to ash as well. Pulling his hand back he clenched it close to his chest, as he fought back tears _'My precious ramen I swear you will be avenged.'_ Naruto thought to himself.

"Come on Naruto its just ramen." Coronamon said from the doorway into the kitchen.

"It is not **just** ramen. It is the greatest food ever given to us by the gods!" Naruto shot back fiercely.

"Whatever. Can you start to make dinner now?" Coronamon questioned.

At the word dinner Naruto got a strange gleam in his eyes as he slowly rose up and made his way to the fridge. "Yeah sure, but it will have to be light since we'll be… training tonight." Naruto said pausing for only a second before he said the word training.

While Coronamon cheered at finally getting some worthwhile food Patamon shivered as he was the only one to see the strange look Naruto had in his eyes. _'I have a really bad feeling about this.'_ He thought to himself.

Hours later Coronamon was lying on the ground trying to catch his breath after being put through the hell that Naruto dared to call training. Patamon had also been put through the same type of training as his fellow digimon but not anywhere near as intense. For the last few hours Naruto had both Rookie digimon dodge his clones kunai, shuriken, and punches all the while having training weights on that made them twice as heavy, he was also using this as a chance to test their endurance and measure how long it would be until it was safe for him to place the weight seals on them. Of course Naruto and his clones focused most of their attention on Coronamon "avenge" his ramen, by the time they finished Coronamon learned one important lesson. You do **NOT** mess with Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze's ramen.

But the nights training wasn't limited to improving the digimon's evasion. Seeing that they could both now fire multiple Corona Flames and Boom Bubbles, Naruto had them move onto target practice next. They had to hit at least two moving targets, played by his clones, at the same time and if they failed and only managed to hit one or didn't hit two clones every five minutes Naruto would create two additional clones. Needless to say by the end of that training regimen the training ground was filled with an army of clones dashing all over the place. Finally to give them a bit of a break Naruto ended the nights training by having them work on combination attacks, which sadly they still had a lot of work to do before it became possible to use.

Now, while Patamon and Coronamon were recovering, Naruto focused on his own training with the Digital Hazard. After weeks of learning how to manipulate raw data and be able to read binary code, through scanning anything digital which included Coronamon and Patamon, he was ready to test the first of his new abilities. Taking a calming breath Naruto closed his eyes as he concentrated on forming a kunai out of the data the digital field naturally gave off. First was constructing the kunai's shape. "Digital Hazard," he spoke softly holding his hand out with the palm facing up, "Data Construction." He finished, as the Digital Hazard symbol glowed a bright red that it could be seen even through the glove he wore. Naruto focused on what the standard kunai looked like, as the wire frame of what looked like a kunai formed. Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly Naruto started the next step, creating the algorithm that would make the kunai real. This would be the hard part if Naruto didn't get the code right there were two possible outcomes. First there was the chance that the kunai would simply not be created, or second there would be some sort of defect in the kunai that would make it useless.

When he finished writing the last part of the data sequence Naruto opened his eyes to find a perfect looking kunai in his hand. Pulling out one of his own to compare it he found they looked exactly the same.

"Wow that is amazing Naruto," Patamon praised, as he flew beside his tamer, having gotten plenty of rest while Naruto created the kunai.

"I suppose." Naruto replied indifferently, as he continued to stare at the data created kunai in his left hand.

"What? You created that thing out of nothing, why aren't you more excited?" Coronamon asked, as he joined the other two, in an exasperated tone as he threw his arms out in the air.

Instead of answering Coronamon Naruto threw the digital kunai at a nearby tree. The moment the kunai struck the tree it shattered like glass before the pieces burst into red flakes of data. "That's why." He said simply.

"What happed? That kunai looked exactly like the real one did." Patamon asked confusedly, having gotten a good look at both of the kunais while Naruto was comparing them.

"That's exactly the problem it only looked like a real kunai." Naruto answered realizing his mistake.

"Huh?" Coronamon questioned, not understanding what his tamer was saying.

"I was only thinking about making the kunai look right, I didn't even think about what it would have to do, so it wasn't made for combat." Naruto explained. "But that's fine now I can really get started on my training with the Digital Hazard." He finished with the excitement plainly evident on his face.

"But you spent like Twenty minutes just to make that thing." Coronamon said, "And what do you mean get started? What have you been doing all this time?"

"Didn't either of you two wonder why I haven't been using Shadow Clones speed this up?" Naruto questioned. Both digimon nodded their heads admitting that they had been curious as to why the blond hadn't used his favorite jutsu. "I didn't use them because of how dangerous Megidramon made the Digital Hazard out to be. I wanted to make sure there was nothing dangerous with what I was trying to do before I let them try." He explained getting nods of understanding from both orange Rookie digimon. "But that can't wait till tomorrow night I think we've done enough training for one night, don't you agree?" the blue eyed boy questioned which Patamon and Coronamon especially were quick to agree to. Sadly before they could even begin their journey home Naruto's D-arc chose that moment to make itself known. Pulling out his D-arc it switched to its tracking mode the red arrow pointing toward where the digimon was bioemerging. "Guess our night isn't over just yet. Come on guys we've got work to do." Naruto said as he started to run off toward the direction his D-arc was telling him. Patamon followed silently as Coronamon was quietly cursing whatever digimon decided now to cause trouble.

* * *

Running down the street Naruto took an immediate right as he followed the direction his D-arc was pointing him toward. Turning the corner Naruto could see the digital field was at the center of what is a large and busy intersection during the day. Luckily a quick look around showed no other human being in sight, as at this time of night the street would have been most likely abandoned by the residents of Shinjuku since nothing note worthy happened here during the night.

"Alright guys." Naruto said as he pulled out his sunglasses, "Lets kick some digi-butt." He finished as an excited grin spread out across his face.

"It's about time something exciting happened. We finally get to put all that training to some use." Coronamon said feeling just as excited as his partner is.

"You two sure you'll be able to handle this?" Naruto asked just a bit concerned that his partners might still be tired from the training that they had just gotten through with. The last time something like this happened it was up against Apemon and he had to step in at the end in order to stop him.

"Don't worry Naruto we are ready to fight whatever is bioemerging." Patamon reassured him correctly guessing what it was that Naruto was so worried about.

"Yeah, plus we are way stronger then we were weeks ago. No one can hope to beat us." Coronamon said confidently.

Naruto smiled at the confidence this two partner digimon had in themselves, "Come on then."

Walking through the digital fog bank Naruto could see two figures that were hidden by the fog standing there; one taller than the other. Telling his partners to be quiet by placing his finger to his lips Naruto silently snuck up on the two figures. When he was a few feet away from them Naruto decided to take a page out of Bushy Brow and Bushy Brow-Sensei's book, running the last few feet Naruto jumped into the air aiming to kick the taller kick, "Dynamic Entry!" he shouted.

It was only a couple of seconds later that the taller figure had grabbed him out of the air before slamming him to the ground with an "oomph" escaping his mouth. Opening his eyes Naruto stared up at a yellow bipedal fox he knew to be Renamon.

"What do you think you're doing?" a familiar female voice asked that Naruto knew belonged to Rika.

Looking to the side Naruto saw the irritated red head standing not too far away with her arms crossed waiting for an answer. Grinning Naruto waved at her from his place on the ground, where Renamon was keeping him with a foot on his chest. "Hey there Ri-Chan, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"What do you think?" Rika replied, "Now tell me why you decided to attack us." She demanded.

Naruto gained an over exaggerated look as he pointed toward himself, as he pretended to look around for someone else before looking back at Rika "What? Me? Never!" he said before he turned to look at Renamon, "By the way mind letting me up now?" he asked.

Renamon just stood there for a second in shock before realizing that she was still standing over him, "S-sorry," she stuttered as she hastily moved off him with her head bowed waiting for the punishment that she deserved for what she did. But why was she suddenly feeling so afraid of him and what he would do to her?

Rika stared at her partner in surprise her eyes open wider than usual. She stuttered, Renamon the always calm and cool Renamon had actually stuttered! Rika glared at Naruto with more intensity than usual, who was currently dusting himself off, how was it possible that this Baka could get such a response out of Renamon, she had been Rika's partner digimon for a couple of months now and she had never seen her act that way. This was bringing up all the questions that she had over the blond, and even though she had spent a lot of time in the blond's company, much more then she would have liked in fact, she had yet to get any answers to any of her questions. _'That's it starting from now I'm going to find out all of your stupid secrets Fishcake.' _Rika thought to herself before saying, "Now that you're off the ground you can tell me what you're doing here." She demanded more than asked.

"Oh you know fighting digital monsters, protecting the city, helping out a pretty girl." He said offhandedly, winking at Rika when he mentioned the last part causing her to blush lightly.

'_P-pretty,'_ Rika thought stunned that the whiskered boy thought she was pretty, sure he had hinted at it from time to time but he had never come right out and said it, before she mentally shook her head to get rid of those kinds of thoughts, "We don't need your help." She said hotly.

"I'm not about to let my friends fight against a digimon on their own Ri-Chan." Naruto said his voice and eyes showing just how determined he was about his decision to help no matter what.

Rika let out a groan at the Naruto's refusal not to get in her way, "Why are you so stubborn?" she asked not really caring about getting an answer.

"I could ask you the same thing Ri-Chan," Naruto said with a smirk.

"Leave!"

"No."

"You stubborn Baka!"

"Do you guys feel like you're being totally ignored like I do?" Coronamon asked getting a nod in return from both Renamon and Patamon. "Come on lovebirds break it up already, or did you forget we are here for a reason?" he asked agitated.

"We are **NOT **lovebirds." They both denied. Sure Naruto liked to tease the girl and see her blush as much as possible but he didn't see her that way. Rika refused to have anything to do with the word **love**. Oh how oblivious the two teens still were to life. It wasn't long after that Rika was once again trying to make Naruto leave.

The two tamers were soon interrupted when the digimon that had just bioemerged let out a roar. A few feet away the digimon stared menacingly at the tamers and their partner digimon. The digimon for the most part looked like a grey skinned green eyed Monoclonius dinosaur with black amour plating on the top half of its body, and on its legs along with three black toenails. Its frill had some things that resembled horns with each horn having red vertical stripes on them. Though what drew their attention were the many sharp teeth the digimon possessed.

"That's a Monochromon." Naruto stated recognizing the large reptile digimon from the one on the TV show.

"Really I couldn't tell." Rika replied sarcastically, still annoyed with the blond's actions from earlier that day and that he refused to leave, as she pulled out her D-arc which scanned the digimon showing a picture of the digimon. "Besides the obvious of his name and that he is a Champion level digimon, it says here that he's a Data type. His attacks are Volcanic Strike, besides being lethal giant fireballs they also explode on impact. And, well here is a surprise, its second attack is Slamming Attack, just like your Patamon there Whiskers. The amour on the top half of its body is as strong as diamonds, making it comparable to a tank." She said as she read off her D-arc with a smirk. "Finally a challenge, you ready Renamon." She said more then asked.

"Always," The yellow fox digimon responded.

"How about you two, we can't let the girls have all the fun now can we?" Naruto asked.

"Ready." Patamon and Coronamon replied in unison.

"Do you honestly believe that such weak and pathetic digimon have a chance of defeating me?" Monochromon spoke his voice ruff and gravely, "The idea that I would lose to a bunch of Rookies is insulting. I'll enjoy absorbing your data."

"Shut up!" Naruto shouted, "Don't underestimate us!"

Coronamon and Renamon rushed forward, as Patamon took to the skies so he could attack from the air. When they got closer Coronamon and Renamon moved to split up so they could attack Monochromon from different sides only to be stopped short when he fired multiple fireballs at them.

"Volcanic Strike!" Monochromon roared.

Coronamon and Renamon were just able to stop themselves before they were hit but they were still in the range of the explosion caused by the Volcanic Strike. They weren't overly hurt but the damage that they received was still not something they could brush off easily if they weren't careful of the explosion's range or were hit directly by the Volcanic Strike. Patamon who was in the air was easily able to avoid the one that was poorly aimed at him.

"See that this battle has only just started and those two runts are ready to drop on their knees." Monochromon said arrogantly.

"Someone has a big mouth." Rika muttered to herself.

"Agreed," Naruto replied, as he grabbed her hand and dragged her off toward an alley that was nearby. "Now come on we have to get some cover."

Rika struggled against his grip but wasn't able to get herself free, "Hey what do you think you're doing? Let me go!"

"Do you honestly think it's a good idea to be out in the open with a digimon that is throwing around **exploding** fireballs?" Naruto asked.

"I'd be fine. Now let go." Rika replied still trying to escape his grip _'Just how strong is he damn it?'_

"Like you were against Gargomon," Naruto retorted only letting go of Rika's hand once they were in the alleyway.

"I would have been fine. I'm not some helpless little girl that needs to be protected." Rika said.

Naruto nodded his head, "Maybe not." He admitted, "But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to do what I can to keep you safe no matter what you say."

"If I was in any real danger then Renamon would protect me I don't need you." Rika said while looking him straight in the eye refusing to back down.

'_For someone who doesn't think that Renamon is anything but data you sure do put a lot faith in her, Rika.' _Naruto thought to himself before replying, "I'm sure that she could, but if Renamon is putting half her concentration on keeping you safe then that means that half of her concentration isn't on winning. From here we can still see what is happening and not have to worry about being blown to pieces." He finished. Rika huffed in annoyance as she looked away refusing to say anything in reply, as she knew that what Naruto said was true. This was further emphasized when a Volcanic Strike hit right where they were standing a few seconds ago. Rika absolutely refused to look at the sapphire eyed boy's direction after that, as she could practically feel the smirk he now wore on his face.

Back on the battle field Renamon was silently thanking Naruto for taking Rika out of the range of fire and keeping her safe. So far the battle hadn't been in favor of the three Rookie digimon, Renamon's Diamond Storm seemed to bounce off of Monochromon's armored skin, something she noticed with a great deal of annoyance happened a lot when she fought dinosaur type digimon, Coronamon's attacks hadn't been much better seeing that his Corona Flames didn't leave in a scorch mark when they impacted, and Patamon's Boom Bubble weren't affective at all, although they did seem to annoy Monochromon greatly.

Refusing to give up just yet Coronamon held both of his hands above his head a bigger fireball then usual started to form, "How about you try this? Odama Corona Flame!" he yelled as he threw a bigger then average Corona Flame at Monochromon, though it only managed to leave a burn mark on the armored dino who suffered only bit of discomfort when the attack hit.

"Odama Corona Flame?" Naruto asked with obvious amounts of amusement in his voice at the choice of name one of his partners decided to name their attack, having been showing them his jutsu so if they ever fought together again they knew what to expect.

"Shut up!" Coronamon shouted in reply, "It's my attack and I can call it whatever I want!" he finished as jumped away from another of Monochromon's Volcanic Strikes. Coronamon tried to move in closer but was forced away by one of Monochromon's Volcanic Strikes hitting close to where he was standing resulting in Coronamon becoming disoriented. Monochromon was about to take advantage of Coronamon being momentarily out of it when he heard an attacking from his side.

"Boom Bubble," Patamon said as he fired a couple of air bullets at Monochromon. The attack didn't have any effect on the dinosaur type digimon but it had bought Coronamon enough time to recover and move away.

Monochromon quickly rushed at the flying digimon before hitting him with his horn that was glowing a pure white while yelling, "Slamming Attack." Sending Patamon flying back a few feet before Patamon hit the ground with a thud. Renamon appeared in front of Monochromon and hit him with a kick to the forehead before using his head as a springboard and jumping high into the air. From her position above the Data digimon she prepared her signature attack.

"Diamond Storm,"

The shards all flew down at the Jurassic digimon but shattered without hurting him when they impacted with his amour clad body. Charging in the direction Renamon was landing, Monochromon slammed into the vulpine digimon knocking the air out of her as she flew backward like Patamon did not too long ago.

"Oi, Teme! Over here!" Coronamon shouted drawing Monochromon's attention to him, dodging under one of Monochromon's Volcanic Strikes Coronamon threw a Coro Knuckle aimed for the side of Monochromon's head. Coronamon watched in slight shock as Monochromon's head hadn't moved at all from being hit. _'Oh that's not good.'_ Coronamon thought as Monochromon growled in annoyance.

"Pathetic." He muttered; as he shook his in order throw Coronamon away.

Patamon, after recovering, flew behind Monochromon and fired a Boom Bubble to the back of his head. Monochromon grunted in slight pain when he was hit but he quickly recovered before he prepared his next attack.

"Volcanic Strike," From his mouth Monochromon unleashed three blasts of fire in quick succession each aiming for one of the three Rookie digimon. Knowing that none of them had the power to match Monochromon's attack the three digimon successfully dodged his attack.

Patamon flew above the rampaging digimon trying to get out of range of being hit by its Volcanic Strike and retaliated with his own attack, "Boom Bubble." While the attack was stronger than it was originally it still was not enough to hurt Monochromon through its tougher hide and amour plating. Renamon, using the distraction that Patamon gave her, jumped onto the Jurassic digimon's back attacking with her Power Paw hoping that a close ranged attack would be more effective. Monochromon didn't even seem to feel it, as he had started to thrash around in an effort to get the vulpine digimon off. With her grip on Monochromon slipping Renamon had no other choice but to jump off.

Coronamon, having gotten tired of sitting on the sidelines, rushed forward in order to get in close now that he had the opportunity since Monochromon calmed down slightly now that he didn't have the extra weight on his back. By the time Monochromon noticed the small lion digimon Coronamon was already in front of him, "Coro Knuckle." With a flaming upper cut Coronamon landed a hit on the underside of Monochromon's head. Grunting in slight pain Monochromon took a couple of staggered steps back before he recovered, spinning around he aimed to hit Coronamon with his armored tail but Coronamon was able to jump over it in order to dodge. Unfortunately that had left the fire digimon open in mid-air, which Monochromon took full advantage of by slamming his diamond hard head into him.

Hitting the ground hard Coronamon slowly stood back up as he rubbed the spot that Monochromon had made direct contact with. "Itai! Teme that hurt," Coronamon grumbled to himself. "Oi Naruto!"

"Yeah I noticed." Naruto replied already having a good idea of what Coronamon was trying to tell him. Pulling out his cards Naruto began to search through them. "Listen Rika," Naruto began "I have a plan, but I'm going to need your help." He finished as he found the card he was looking for.

"Well so do I." Rika replied, holding a card of her own along with her D-arc. "And, unlike you, I don't need help to beat this guy. Renamon!" She yelled getting Renamon to jump up above Monochromon with her arms crossed over her chest. "Now watch this Fishcake." Rika said with a smirk, "Digi-Modify… Power Activate!"

Renamon could feel herself become stronger then she was before, as the power the card gave her coursed through her. Channeling all that power she used her signature attack. "Diamond Storm," With a flourish of her arms the hundreds of diamond shards appeared before they all rocketed down toward Monochromon creating a smoke screen once they all made impact.

"And that's the end of that." Rika said arrogantly as Renamon landed on the ground and walked forward prepared to absorb the defeated Champion's data.

"Volcanic Strike!" from the smoke came out a super heated fireball.

"What?" Caught by surprise that her opponent had survived her attack Renamon didn't react in time to dodge the fire blast and was thrown back as it had impacted with the ground right in front of her.

"So what exactly am I supposed to be seeing?" Naruto asked in an amused tone.

Rika shot the blond a glare in return, "Shut up!" she snapped.

"That didn't do much did it?" Naruto asked rhetorically ignoring the girl's order to be quite.

"More than either of your two digimon managed to do." Rika replied.

"Maybe," Naruto conceded "But it also made him angrier." He said pointing out the fact that Monochromon was now constantly firing his Volcanic Strike at the three Rookie level digimon or trying to ram into them.

Patamon was still flying above Monochromon, only having to dodge the occasional Volcanic Strike, as he rained down Boom Bubbles trying to hurt Monochromon despite his though hide and armor, or distract him so that Renamon or Coronamon could do something besides dodge Monochromon's attacks. Coronamon was silently thanking his sadistic blond tamer, as he stepped to the side dodging a Volcanic Strike. He doubted he would have been able to evade even half of the Volcanic Strikes and retaliate with his Corona Flame had it not been for his training. Of course there were still quite a few close calls. Renamon was having a much easier time dodging Monochromon's attacks, her natural grace and elegance making it look like she was dancing around Monochromon's attacks. Though she was becoming increasingly frustrated with the fact she couldn't attack, with Monochromon no longer allowing them to get close and her Diamond Storm taking too long to fire and still be able to dodge the giant fireballs.

Rika clenched her fists as she scowled at the scene in front of her. She knew that Naruto was right; all she had managed to do was make Monochromon angry. She also knew that she had a card that could defeat him, but she had been rebuilding her deck when the D-arc went off, so she had been forced to leave without all her cards. "Fine if you have an idea to win just do it and get this over with." She said reluctantly.

"Are you willing to help?" Naruto questioned.

"What?"

"I'm going to need you and Renamon to distract Monochromon if we're going to pull this off." Naruto replied.

"And you expect me to help?" Rika asked incredulously.

"Of course," Naruto replied without a second thought; like it was supposed to be the most obvious thing in the world.

"And what makes you think I'd help you?" She asked.

Naruto let out a sigh at how stubborn Rika was being. "It's either help me or let him delete our digimon." He said before smirking, "Besides could you really not help your best friend out?" he asked teasingly causing Rika to blush; she wasn't sure what caused her to blush it was just the way he said it, so honestly even though he was trying to tease her. Looking away Rika refused to answer. "I just need you and Renamon to distract Monochromon for a minute."

"Fine," Rika muttered.

Naruto grinned before he called out to his digimon partners, "Coronamon! Patamon! I get over here I have a plan."

"Renamon keep that dragon wannabe busy while the baka tells his digimon his stupid plan." Rika said not noticing the crocodile tears that were now falling down Naruto's face at her insults.

"Ri-Chan is so mean." He mumbled before getting smacked on the back of his head by Coronamon.

"Stop fooling around and tell us the plan, Renamon won't be able to keep that guy busy for long." Coronamon said forcefully.

"Fine," Naruto sighed before whispering his plan to his two partners.

Monochromon noticed that two of the pests, which had been in his way since he had crossed over had suddenly, stopped attacking him leaving him with just the Renamon to deal with. He didn't really care it just meant that he could put all his attention on deleting her and absorbing her data. He growled lowly as he watched that she once again jumped out of the way of his attack, and continued to taunt him.

"What's the matter big boy can't keep up." Renamon taunted in a sing song voice.

"Volcanic Strike!" he roared in return.

Again Renamon moved out of the way with just a bit of effort, "Oh I think that you might have singed my fur a little with that one." And on it went like this each time Monochromon would fire one of his Volcanic Strikes Renamon would either side step it or jump over it. Whenever he would charge at her with a Slamming Attack she would jump over him and then kick him in the back of the head. But because of his tough skin he didn't do anything more then give a little grunt in discomfort.

"Alright you two ready?" Naruto asked after finishing telling Coronamon and Patamon his plan.

"Ready!" They replied in unison before they moved to get in place. Coronamon didn't have to go far as he only had to get close enough to the fight without getting dragged in. Patamon flew above to two fighting digimon to get to on the other side of the battlefield. Out of the corner of his eye Monochromon saw Patamon making his way behind him, not wanting to have to deal with the chance of being attacked from both sides Monochromon focused his attention on the small flying digimon as he prepared a Volcanic Strike in his mouth.

"Don't forget about me now." Renamon spoke, having quickly closed in on Monochromon while he had momentarily been focusing on Patamon. Blue like flames appeared on her right arm as she threw a punch right for Monochromon's head, "Power Paw!" The punch landed and Monochromon's head was moved only marginally to the side. While it hadn't hurt the Jurassic dino it was enough it was enough to make sure that his Volcanic Strike didn't hit Patamon.

"Alright Naruto I'm all set!" Patamon shouted once he landed on the other side of the battle field.

"Perfect!" Naruto replied before glancing at the redhead beside him, "Get ready Rika your about to see my genius at work here." He said holding out both D-arc and card, "Digi-modify… Frigimon's Sub Zero Ice Punch… Activate." Behind both Patamon and Coronamon a transparent version of Frigimon, which looked like a bear version of a snowman with black coal eyes and nose, and two red buttons, appeared before breaking into data and being absorbed into them.

"This feels uncomfortable." Coronamon commented being a digimon of fire.

"Hurry you know what to do." Naruto rushed them getting a nod from them both. Raising up their right arms a white energy covered their fists.

'_I think I get it.' _Rika thought, _'His plan is to have both his digimon use Frigimon's Sub Zero Ice Punch and attack from two different sides making it impossible for Monochromon to dodge them both. I've got to admit that's not a bad plan.'_

"Sub Zero Ice Punch!" Patamon and Coronamon shouted at the same time punching the ground in front of them.

'_What?'_ Rika thought in disbelief, as a perfect opportunity was seemingly wasted for nothing. Turning to face Naruto she glared at him with scowl on her face, "That was your stupid plan? That was a complete waste of time!"

Naruto just smiled in return, "You should have more faith in me Ri-Chan, look" he said pointing toward where Monochromon was. Turning to look Rika's face quickly lost the scowl it had as it shifted to one of slight shock and awe. The Champion level digimon was stumbling around trying to keep from falling over on the slippery ground, Coronamon and Renamon were also having a bit of trouble but not as much as Monochromon seemed to have.

"What?" Rika asked confused.

Naruto's grin grew larger, "It's not over yet." Naruto said.

Moving as quickly as possible Coronamon prepared to continue the plan while Monochromon was too busy trying to keep himself from falling, out of the corner of his eye he could see that Patamon was right beside him ready to attack. "Coro Knuckle!" he yelled throwing a fire covered fist at Monochromon's side.

Patamon followed along with his own attack aiming for the same place, "Slamming attack."

Renamon getting a good idea of what the others were trying to do quickly attacked Monochromon as well by jumping and hitting Monochromon with a kick to the side. The three attacks to the same side combined were strong enough to make Monochromon fall on his side.

"Perfect." Naruto said, "Now aim for his underside, it's not as well protected as his top half." Rika was confused for a moment until she remembered how Monochromon reacted when Coronamon was able to hit him with an uppercut to his head.

Smirking Rika said, "Not bad Whiskers, I guess you're not a total idiot."

"Uh, thanks Ri-Chan." Naruto said unsure if that was meant as a complement or not.

"No I refuse to be beaten by such pathetic little digimon!" Monochromon roared as he thrashed around trying to get back on his feet. Having a perfect shot the three Rookie level digimon all attacked at the same time.

"Diamond Storm"

"Odama Corona Flame"

"Boom Bubble"

All three attacks collided with Monochromon at the same time causing him to scream out of pain, "NO THIS CAN'T BE POSSIBLE!" he screamed before bursting into data. Renamon moved to absorb the fallen Champion's data only to be stopped by her tamer before she could.

"Renamon stop!" Rika ordered, drawing curious glances from everyone.

"What's going on Ri-Chan?" Naruto asked the curiosity he felt getting the better of him.

Rika turned to leave before answering, "Renamon doesn't need help defeating any digimon, I won't accept her absorbing the data of a digimon she didn't delete herself. Next time don't get in the way." She said before walking away.

"That girl really needs to learn to say thank you." Coronamon grumbled to himself before looking at his tamer, "What do you see in her?"

"What was that?" Naruto asked in a dangerous voice.

Coronamon was about to answer, but Patamon stopped him by slapping one of his wings over the lion digimon's mouth. "Nothing Naruto, don't pay any attention to him." Patamon said nervously, worried that Coronamon's mouth might land them in another training session like the one they had tonight.

"Thought so," Naruto said, "Come on let's go home." Earning a sigh of relief from Patamon as he removed his wing from over Coronamon's mouth, but not without sending him a quick glare to make sure he didn't say anything. Coronamon seeing the glare his usually peaceful fellow digimon was sending him wisely decided to keep his mouth shut.

* * *

_Next Day_

Naruto was making his way toward school going over everything that happened the night before. He wasn't sure if he could call last night progress when it came to Rika working together with everyone._ 'I mean she did work together with me, not that I really gave her much of a choice. But then there was what she said as she left, does that mean that she still refuses to trust others.'_ He thought in frustration on the verge of pulling his hair out, _'You know what, Shikamaru was right women are troublesome.'_ He grumbled to himself. Deciding to think about it later on, Naruto brought himself out of his thoughts to see he was already at the school's gate, where Takato and Henry were patiently waiting for him to arrive.

Lifting his hand up Naruto greeted the two other male tamers with a grin on his face, "Hey there Takato, Henry!" he all but yelled.

Sadly his shout drew the attention of all his fan-girls as they started to appear from behind bushes, trees, walls, and one even popped up from under a manhole cover. All the girls had a crazed look in their eyes as they slowly drew closer to the blond. Naruto slowly backed away not making any sudden movements.

"Uh… hi girls," Naruto said nervously with a small wave of his hand.

"Good morning Uzumaki-Sama."

"Hello Uzumaki-Sama"

"Uzumaki-Sama, do you want to walk to class together?"

"No Uzumaki-Sama is going to walk with to class."

"Ne, Uzumaki-Sama I made an extra bento, do you want to have lunch together?"

"Will you please go out with me Uzumaki-Sama?"

"I want to marry you Uzumaki-Sama."

"Let me have your babies Uzumaki-Sama."

And on and on it went as the number of fan-girls grew in number as they all slowly closed in on Naruto. Seeing them get closer with each passing second and listening as each of them kept asking for something more outrages then the last, Naruto's skin got paler and paler.

"Um look over there!" Naruto shouted pointing off to his right. All the girls looked in the direction he was pointing to only to see nothing there, when they turned back to where Naruto was standing all they found was a dust cloud shaped like Naruto, and the cerulean eyed boy running away at a speed that one could only get when running away from fan-girls/boys.

"RUNAWAY!" Naruto shouted.

"AFTER HIM!" one of the girls yelled before she and all the other girls took off after him.

'_That poor lucky bastard,'_ Takato and Henry thought simultaneously getting their first line in the entire chapter.

* * *

**AN: Well that's it for this chapter. The next chapter will be back to the cannon timeline and I'll be starting that right away.**

**Please remember to review. **


	7. Not so Itsy Bitsy Spider

**AN: Next chapter of Shinobi of the Digital Hazard is up. Read, enjoy, and review.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Digimon or anything that may or may not show up in this Fic. that someone else owns already.**

* * *

Not so Itsy Bitsy Spider

"Talking"  
_'Thinking'_  
**"Megidramon"  
(Author Notes)**

In Shinjuku's private girls' school, Rika was barely listening as the teacher droned on about something or other. Not really caring about what the teacher was saying Rika looked down toward her desk, at the mirror inside her pencil case, her eyes instantly focusing on the blonde women the mirror reflected. The woman's beauty and clothes made her stand out from everyone else who stood in the back of the room. She had her hair pulled back in a fancy bun that still left some of her hair loose, with only the barest hint of makeup accenting her natural beauty. She wore a light lavender shirt and jacket, that hugged her figure nicely, with the jacket having violet fur lining, and a violet dress skirt all of an obviously high quality. Her body drew envious glances from the other women in the room, and looks of admiration from the girls, with her D-cup bust, hourglass figure, and a butt that was nice and firm she had many men, and many women, drooling at her feet. She was famous supermodel Makino, and more importantly she was Rumiko Nonaka, Rika's mother.

Rumiko had arrived home a few days ago from one of her photo shoots overseas, for how long was still to be seen. Once she had learned that the school had invited the parents to come for a day Rumiko had insisted on coming. Rika would never admit it but a part of her was sort of glad her mom did come.

_***Ring***_

From the mirror's reflection Rika could see her mother walk out of the room to answer her phone. When she didn't return Rika knew that her mother had left for another photo shoot. _'Typical.'_ She thought somewhat bitterly, as she snapped the pencil case close.

"Yo Ri-Chan," A familiar voice from her left said, causing her to let out a sigh.

It had been a few hours since her mom had left and school had just let out. Rika wasn't surprised that Naruto was there waiting, the whispers of the other girls' on her way to the school entrance clueing her in. He had chosen to wait leaned against the wall by the entrance.

"Hi whiskers," Rika answered unenthusiastically.

"Eh? What's up with that greeting? Where is the 'Naruto-Kun I missed you so much.'" He said, finishing in a voice that was louder than absolutely necessary ensuring that everyone heard him; at this point the other girls stopped acting like they weren't eavesdropping. Rika could feel her eyebrow twitching, not only because of the whispered conversations from her schoolmates, but because Naruto somehow managed to imitate her voice perfectly and made her sound like one of _them._ "Well at least you've accepted that I'll be waiting for you sometimes."

"Not like I had much of a choice." Rika grumbled. It had been a couple of weeks since the first time Naruto had waited for her after school. Since then Naruto had waited for her a few more times. The first time couple of times Rika had tried to force the blond to stop his visits to her school on her own, that had failed miserably. She then had Renamon keep a look out for him, but somehow he always managed to slip by the vulpine digimon no matter what Renamon did to try and stop him. Finally Rika was forced to ask some of the faculty for help, something that she really hated doing, but the elusive boy always disappeared when they drew near and only appeared after the faculty member had left. Suffice to say he left her very frustrated and annoyed, but ultimately accepting the fact that no matter what she tried the boy would be waiting for her after class whenever he wanted.

The walks home had helped to cement a sort of friendship between the two tamers. Bit by bit Rika found she accepted the cerulean eyed boy's forced company. Listening to Naruto retell all the pranks he managed to pull when he was younger had the red headed girl forcing herself not to burst out laughing at some of the things that he did. She had also learned that the blond boy, while bordering on genius level, had his moments of idiocy that seemed almost unbelievable; I mean who in their right mind would willingly wear an orange jumpsuit; Rika actually did start laughing when he accused her of being jealous that she didn't have one of her own. She did find it frustrating, and very suspicious, that he refused to talk about anything, but the pranks he pulled, when she questioned him about his life before coming to Shinjuku. The most she had learned in the weeks of knowing him was his home village's name, Konoha, that it wasn't on any map, which she had later confirmed, and a couple of names of people he knew. Rika knew that Naruto was trying to hide something; this only served to steel her resolve to learn what he was hiding that much more.

Naruto was having an even harder time trying to get anything out of Rika. If the girl was anything it was stubborn. Even though they were friends, and Naruto knew that they were friends now, the amethyst eyed girl still refused to talk about herself. Naruto knew that if he really wanted to learn something about Rika than he could always ask Seiko, but it wouldn't mean the same thing as if Rika had told him. It wasn't until after a particularly hard day of school did Rika tell him, or rather rant, about her immense dislike of her school. It was also at that point that Naruto heard for the first time of Rumiko Nonaka, though he had yet to meet her, and her constant attempts to get her daughter to be more girly. Naruto almost laughed when he learned of the older Nonaka women's wishes just imagining someone like Rika in a super frilly pink dress had him holding onto his gut, only the threat of what Rika could, and probably would, do to him kept him from busting his gut. It wasn't till after that day that Rika started to tell Naruto small things about herself on occasion.

A nervous female voice from their side caught the two tamers' attention. "Ano…?" Turning their heads in the direction the voice came from the two saw a girl about their age with short cut black hair with a hair clip keeping a bang out of her face, glasses, a slim figure, wearing the private school uniform fidgeting nervously under the two's stare.

"What is it?" Rika snapped.

The dark haired girl flinched at Rika's voice and seemed to only get more nervous, "Um, well." Glancing shyly at Naruto, "I, I mean we, we were wondering who you are?" the girl said indicating to a group of girls that were nearby before gesturing to Naruto.

'_Who he is, is none of your, or your friends, business.'_ Rika thought angrily, as she glared at the glasses wearing girl who was too busy staring at Naruto to notice, though she didn't understand why she was suddenly so angry that other girls were suddenly so interested in her friend.

Naruto blinked a couple of times in confusion before he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, just now realizing that in the few times he came to the private school to wait for Rika none of the other girls ever learned what his name was, just the nicknames Rika greeted him by. "Oh, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. It's nice to meet you," He said.

The girl managed to give the blond a small smile before she bowed slightly to him and introduced herself, "It is nice to meet you too, Uzumaki-San. I'm Miyuki Kasahara."

"Ah, call me Naruto. I'm not too big on formalities and Uzumaki-San makes me feel old." Naruto said with his fox grin causing Miyuki to blush

"Now that you've been introduced you can go." Rika said, angry that she was being ignored by the other two teens.

Miyuki shot the red head a quick glare, a glare only Rika saw as Naruto had been looking at her, before her expression returned back to one of shyness. "Well I-I was wondering if Naruto-San would like t-to do something with me, I mean us. Th-that's if he isn't busy or anything. I-I j-just thought that may-"

'_That's it!'_ "I'm out of here." Rika said cutting Miyuki off. Naruto watched Rika walk away for a moment before looking back toward Miyuki.

"Gomen Miyuki-San, but I've got to go." He apologized before running after Rika. Miyuki scowled, as she watched the handsome teen with the beautiful blue eyes run after the Ice Bitch her shy act completely dissolving, before a wicked smile spread across her face.

'_Enjoy Naruto-San's company while you can Nonaka, he'll soon see the kind of person you really are and leave you behind. Until then I'll have to tell Miyazawa-San that I've at least learned his name.'_ Miyuki thought to herself, before moving toward where the other girls were eagerly waiting for any information on the mystery blond.

"Oi Ri-Chan,"

"…"

"I don't get why you're so angry."

"…"

"It's not like I did anything wrong."

"…"

"All I did was introduce myself, it would have been rude if I hadn't"

"…"

"Fine be like that. I think you're just jealous that another pretty girl is interested in me."

"What!" Rika finally exclaimed, staring at Naruto in shock, disbelief, and no small part anger.

"Finally!" Naruto said throwing his hands up in the air, "I've been trying to get you to talk to me for the last ten minutes, almost thought you'd gone deaf." He paused for a second, as a sly fox grin spread across his face, "Though I wonder why you reacted like you did, is there something you want to tell me Ri-Chan."

"You wish Fishcake," Rika muttered, as she turned her head away from him in an effort to hide the blush that spread across her face getting a chuckle out of Naruto.

"So now that you're talking to me again, are you going to tell me what's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing's wrong." Rika replied.

"Please," Naruto scoffed before thumping his chest with his closed fist, "I'm your best friend, Ri-Chan. While you're not exactly Miss. Sunshine you are a bit moodier than usual today."

"Moody?" Rika questioned with a hint of anger in her voice, as she narrowed her eyes at the boy and clenched her fists.

"C'mon," Naruto said, ignoring the irritation she was feeling, walking in a different direction than the one they usually took to get to her home, "let's go get something to eat, my treat." He finished, as he took her hand in his to make sure she followed along.

"What?" Rika asked, taken back by the sudden change in topic.

"I said let's go get something to eat." Naruto said again, as if Rika hadn't heard him the first time.

"But I'm not even hungry, Baka!" Rika protested, as she tried to free herself from his grasp.

Naruto looked back at her with a smirk on his face, "You say that now, but in a couple of minutes your stomach is going to growl. Besides it's good for friends to go out and eat together."

"Whatever," Rika muttered giving up on trying to get her hand free from his firm grip, "But you better not call this a date, tell Obaa-San or **anyone** about this, got it Whiskers?"

"Ara, Ara…" Naruto said with fox like grin, "I never said anything about this even being a date. Are you sure that there isn't something that you want to tell me, Ri-Chan?"

"Urusai!" Rika shouted with a small blush across her face, if there was one good thing that came from Naruto keeping a firm hold on her hand, Rika learned, it was that it made it impossible for him to dodge her punches.

"So are you going to tell me what's wrong?" Naruto asked, as he and Rika sat in a booth in a WcDonalds; because there always has to be a WcDonalds. **(AN: I do not own McDonalds, WcDonalds, or any other _cDonalds that might exist.)**

"I already told you that there is nothing wrong." Rika answered in an exasperated tone, as she took a sip of her drink. She of course knew that Naruto wouldn't believe her, but that didn't mean that she was going to admit it.

"And I've already made it obvious that I don't believe you, so…" Naruto replied trailing off at the end.

"I'm surprised that you didn't drag us off to some place that serves ramen, Whiskers." Rika commented offhandedly, knowing about his love for the food, in an effort to distract him, and if there was any way to do that it was through ramen.

Naruto actually pouted, as he crossed his arms over his chest, "I haven't found a ramen stand in this city that has even halfway decent ramen."

Rika smirked slightly, as her plan was working now she just to push it a bit more, "Well what do you expect?" Rika asked with a scoff, "No one is going to waste their time making ramen when the instant stuff is just as good."

Naruto gave her a stupefied look before shaking his head vigorously in denial "No way, sure the instant stuff is good, it's ramen after all, but there isn't anything like ramen that has been freshly made." He argued.

Rika raised an eyebrow, "You really are a ramen nut, aren't you." Rika stated more then asked.

"I," Naruto began, "am a ramen connoisseur, my dear Ri-Chan." He finished proudly.

"Whatever," Rika replied dismissively taking another bite of her burger. "Ramen isn't that good."

"You just don't understand how great ramen is yet, Ri-Chan. I'll just to take you out to eat some decent ramen someday." Naruto said, as he let out a sigh before giving the red headed girl a smirk, "So now that I've answered your question how about you tell me what's wrong."

'_Damn it,'_ Rika swore, "It's nothing, so stop asking." She answered.

Naruto stared at the girl intently, but could see that nothing he said would convince her to tell him. _'Even after about a month of knowing each other she still refuses to talk about anything that bothers her,'_ He let out a mental sigh_, 'Guess there is nothing I can do but wait until she is more comfortable with talking about these sort of things with me.'_ Giving her a small gentle smile he said, "Fine if you don't want to talk about it then I won't force you."

'_What? Did he? Just like that?'_ Rika thought honestly surprised at how easy Naruto accepted her not telling him what happened. "Um… thanks." She said softly not completely sure how she was supposed to react, before she shook her head lightly and returned to her usual self. "It's not like there was anything to talk about anyway." She said with a bit of annoyance of her voice.

Naruto let out a chuckle, earning a glare from the girl across from him, before his phone went off.

_***Ringtone Go! By Flow***_

Already having a good idea of who would be calling Naruto wasn't at all surprised that the caller id showed his home phone number, or that it was Coronamon's voice he heard when he answered. "Hello… Hanging out with Rika… Well there is always ramen, unless you burned it all again… That's good to know. Fine I'll be there soon." Ending the call Naruto turned his attention to Rika, "Well it looks like it is time to go." He said getting a shrug from Rika not really caring one way or another.

"Whatever."

"Hold on a sec," Naruto said before making his way to the counter. When he came back he was carrying a couple of bags and three cans of soda, "Alright now I don't have to cook tonight, let's go."

When it finally came time for the two tamers to part ways Naruto handed Rika some of the food and a soda. "For Renamon," he said answering her unasked question before leaving. Rika watched Naruto's retreating form for a moment before making her way home, as she passed by an alleyway she threw the food into it where it was caught and disappeared not even a second later.

* * *

Rika rushed into her home quickly making her way toward her room in order to change clothes, having seen the begging of a digital field forming as she was making her way home.

"Rika is that you?" Seiko asked from the living room. "You're home pretty late."

"Yeah grandma it's me," Rika answered from her room, as she tossed off her uniform and put on her usual clothes. "Whiskers dragged me off to eat on our way here."

"Oh, that's nice. Did you have a good time?" the elder woman asked taking a sip of her tea with a small smile on her face.

"Sure grandma," Rika replied, "I'm going out for a bit." She finished, as she raced back toward the front door.

"What? But you just got here, well at least make sure to be home before dinner." Seiko said.

"Don't worry grandma I won't be long," Rika replied, "What are we having anyway?"

"My special eggplant and liver casserole," Seiko answered.

"Terrific," Rika muttered sarcastically, _'I just might have to thank Fishcake for inviting me to eat with him.'_ Rika thought grateful to have already eaten.

Arriving at the Digital Field Rika saw that Renamon was already there, and was standing in front of a bipedal dinosaur type digimon that had blue skin with red strips along its body and tail, yellow fur around its wrists, orange hair with Indian feathers in it, and finally wearing tribal Indian necklace.

Pulling out her D-arc Rika read out the information it gave her "Allomon an amour dinosaur type. Let's see if his Dino Burst attack has any real bite to it," She finished reading, "Walk all over him." She commanded.

"My pleasure," Renamon answered, going into a spin kick and hitting Allomon on the top of his mouth making the blue Dino groan in pain.

Allomon quickly recovered from Renamon initial attack proving just how strong he was and countering with his own, "My turn." He said, as he spun around and slammed his tail into Renamon sending her flying backwards.

"Scaly bum," Rika says pulling out a card, "Time to fight. Digi-Modify… Agumon's Frozen Wind Activate!" she said slashing the card threw her D-arc.

Renamon could feel the power that came with the data from the card as it entered and became a part of her own. Jumping into the air Renamon felt the cold air gathering around her, as she prepared her attack.

Up on the rooftops Naruto, with Patamon on his head and Coronamon resting on his shoulder, watched as the fight progressed instead of jumping in and joining like he usually would.

"Naruto, why aren't we helping them?" Patamon asked looking down toward his tamer from his perch on top of his head.

Naruto watched the fight intently before answering, "I want to see what they do if we're not there to interfere."

"So we came here for nothing." Coronamon complained from his spot on Naruto's shoulder.

Naruto smirked as he stared at Coronamon from out of the corner of his eye, "If you are that upset about not getting a chance to fight we can always have a spar later tonight during training." Naruto said with an eye smile.

"Uh… no thanks I'm good." Coronamon replied nervously.

"If you say so," Naruto said as he focused his attention back on the fight.

"Frozen Wind," Renamon said sending a blast of cold air at Allomon threw her hand.

"Dino Burst." Allomon retaliated with a stream of fire that shot out of his mouth. The two elemental attacks clashed sparks of electricity being created as one attack tried to overpower the other and end the stalemate.

"What are you doing?" Rika muttered loudly, "This isn't some silly little game."

"He's too strong," Renamon said; if it was toward Rika or to herself it was impossible to tell. Slowly Allomon's Dino Burst attack gained ground and pushed Renamon's Frozen Wind back till it overpowered her completely. Allomon's attack hit Renamon and threw her back into a light pole before falling on to the ground.

"If you just digivolved you could beat him." Rika said, as Allomon stomped closer to the downed Renamon.

"Pyro Sphere,"

"Terrier Tornado,"

The two attacks collided with the Champion level dinosaur digimon from the side knocking him away from Renamon. Looking behind her Rika saw Henry and Takato come through the Digital Field, as Guilmon and Terriermon moved to stand in front of Renamon incase Allomon tried to attack her while she was still down. She wouldn't admit it, but part of Rika was surprised that Naruto still hadn't shown up. She had at least expected him to be there with the other two male tamers.

"Don't get in the way; this is our fight so stay out of it," Rika said with a scowl on her face before turning her back on the two.

"You could at least thank us. We did just save your digimon from being deleted you know." Henry said, not getting any response out of the amethyst eyed girl at his words.

"Let's finish this Renamon," Rika said pulling out another card from her card holster, "Digi-Modify… Hyper Chip Activate!"

"You shouldn't have come." Renamon said, as she slowly walks past both Guilmon and Terriermon to stand in front of Allomon the cold air once more gathering around her.

"But why?" Guilmon asks innocently.

"Dino Burst!" Allomon said attacking with another stream of fire that headed straight for Renamon.

Raising her right hand Renamon released her own attack stopping Allomon's Dino Burst just before it reached her, "Frozen Wind." For a second it looked like Renamon's Frozen Wind was going to be overwhelmed by the fire attack again only for the Frozen Wind to overpower the Dino Burst at the last second, and freezing Allomon in a block of ice. Jumping into the air Renamon finished it with a Diamond Storm the thousand shards turning Allomon back into data, which was then absorbed by Renamon.

With Allomon defeated the Digital Field started to disperse showing that the sun was on the verge of setting. "Renamon, it's time to go." Rika said getting Renamon to faze away, as Rika turned and started to walk away.

"Hey wait a minute, can't we just talk?" Takato asked before Rika got too far away.

Rika stopped and thought about her reply. Normally Rika would have just told the two to stay out of her way and to stop interfering with her fights, but these two were Naruto's friends which meant that they had to know something about the blond haired boy that could answer a few of the questions she had about him. "Sure we can talk. You can tell me what you know about Naruto." Rika said, as she turned to look at the pair.

From his place on the rooftops Naruto smirked to himself, as he heard what Rika asked his two friends. _'Trying to get information about me through my friends, not a bad plan Rika.'_

"And why would we do that?" Henry asked defensively.

"I'll give you two a Metalgreymon x and Weregarurumon x card." Rika replied dismissively.

Naruto was shaking his while smiling amusedly, _'Trying to bribe them won't work Rika. There is a thing called the Guy Code Henry and Takato wouldn't sell me out just fo-"_

"Deal!" Takato and Henry replied in unison unknowingly cutting Naruto off midsentence.

'_TRAITORS!'_ Naruto thought, _'I you two better be ready, because I'm going to show you two exactly why I am Konoha's Prank Master.'_ At that moment Henry and Takato felt shiver go down their spines for no apparent reason, but they just dismissed it as nothing important.

"So get on with it." Rika demanded.

"Well," Henry began, "I know that he is very good at sports. Every sports team in our school has tried to convince him to join, the track and soccer teams are the most persistent."

"He's also scary smart," Takato continued, "He's in my class and he's never failed one of Ms. Asaji's, our teacher, tests, and even though she is known for giving the most homework out of everyone in our school Naruto has it all done on time, even if it's due the next day."

'_So he is good at sports, which considering how fast he is I can understand, and he's smart, that I actually didn't know about him,' _Rika thought, "Anything else?" she questioned.

Both boys took a second to try and remember anything else they could about their blond friend. "Well he likes to eat ramen." Takato supplied.

"I already knew that." Rika said.

"He used to pull pranks back in his home of Konoha, and he's practiced martial arts since he was about 8 years old, and his favorite color is orange." Henry commented.

"I already knew all that too." Rika said exasperated.

"Well I can't think of anything else." Henry said.

"Hey what about Naruto's fan club?" Takato asked as he looked to his friend questioningly.

"His fan- what?" Rika asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Uh yeah," Takato said uneasily, "Ever since the soccer game we had a few weeks ago Naruto has all these fan girls chasing after him. Most of the girls in our year, and some in the year ahead of us, have a crush on him, and have joined his fan club."

'_So it's not just at my school that he is getting other girls attention, but his too.'_ Rika thought, the idea that Naruto was drawing the attention of so many people of the opposite sex irritating her for some reason. "Is that it?" Rika asked in an annoyed tone.

"Y-yeah that's it." Takato answered nervously

"Here," Rika said handing them the cards she promised before leaving.

"Hey Takato?" Henry began after Rika had left.

"Yeah," Takato responded distractedly, as he looked at his new Metalgreymon x card.

"Do you think it was alright for us to tell Rika all those things about Naruto?" Henry asked.

Takato took a second to actually consider the question before answering, "I'm sure that as long as Naruto doesn't learn about this then everything will be fine." He said dismissively.

'_Too late for that Takato,' _Naruto thought with an evil smile, as he began to plan the pranks he was going to pull on his two friends for selling him out. Shaking thoughts of retribution out of his head Naruto noticed a small purple digimon standing on the light pole that Renamon was standing on earlier. _'Oh who do we have here?' _Naruto thought to himself as he watched the unknown digimon jump away.

"Oi Naruto!" Coronamon said, as he pinched at his tamer's cheek and pulled on it.

"OW Coronamon what the hell!" Naruto exclaimed as he rubbed his cheek.

"Come on lets go, everybody else has already left." Coronamon said impatiently.

"Fine," Naruto muttered before sly smile spread across his face, "But first, Patamon if you'd be so kind…"

"Of course Naruto," Patamon replied, already knowing what his tamer was asking, before he shifted his position on top of Naruto's head so he was closer to Coronamon, then in less than a second Patamon slapped Coronamon across the back of his head with one of his wings.

"OW!"

Naruto let out a chuckle, "Thanks Patamon."

"Anytime Naruto," Patamon replied with a giggle, while Coronamon grumbled about abusive fellow digimon partners.

* * *

Later that night Renamon was sitting on a telephone wire, thinking about what Rika said earlier that night and how upset she was with Renamon's inability to digivolve. Rika expected the best out of her and she was doing her best to give Rika that, but digivolving always seemed to be just out of her reach. The yellow vulpine digimon was sure that if she could just defeat a strong enough digimon and load its data then she would be able to digivolve, but she also felt that there was more to it than that.

"Aw, isn't this sweet a digi-babe pinning in the moonlight." A voice said causing Renamon to jump up facing the direction where the voice was coming from. There lying on a street lamp was the small purple digimon with a white face, green eyes, and tail. He wore red three fingered gloves and red scarf and a yellow smiling face that's teeth were like those of a shark on his stomach. "Don't look to me that you're too happy there toots, but then again what self-respecting digimon would be when you gotta answer to some snotty nosed kid like you're they're pet or something. Am I right?"

"I'm no one's pet. Rika happens to be my partner," Renamon replied testily, "and who exactly are you?"

"The name's Impmon, toots." The now known Impmon answered, "And your partner's not that impressive, even so she's got you believing that you can't do anything for yourself. It's the most pathetic thing I've ever seen. All you digi-slaves are the same, deep down you wanna be just like me."

"A short guy who likes covering his face in makeup?" a voice asked from directly below the two digimon surprising them since they hadn't sensed anyone being there a few seconds ago. Looking down the two digimon found the blond haired tamer casually leaning against the telephone pole in his usual clothes with his arms crossed over his chest. "Yo." He said, as he lifted a hand in greeting.

While Naruto dressed like he usually did Renamon couldn't help, but notice that his eyes were almost glowing as he stared up at them, and that his usual golden blond hair was a pale blond, for a moment Renamon wondered if his hair color just reflected whatever heavenly body was in the sky. It surprised her that she hadn't felt his presence like she normally would, but now that she knew he was there the aura he was giving off seemed to be even more intense than usual. What frustrated her most of all though wasn't that she hadn't been able to sense him, though she would be lying if she said it didn't bother her that a mere human could escape her sensing abilities, but he had been doing that for weeks now, but that she still couldn't put a definite word to what his aura made her feel or why she felt it. She has been trying for the past month to figure out what could possibly make her fear and respect the cerulean eyed teen since first meeting him, but nothing she learned from her life in the digital world could explain it.

"Who is wearing makeup? I dare ya to come up to my face and say that!" Impmon replied angrily, "Who the heck are you anyway?" he asked more than slightly confused at the end.

For a moment Naruto considered emulating his godfather and introducing himself like he used to, then he remembered how lame Jiraiya looked whenever he did that and decided that just giving his name would do. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki," he said introducing himself, "And I'm guessing that you're Makeupmon?" he questioned.

"The name's IMPMON!" the purple virus digimon said, his face temporarily going from white to red.

Naruto dismissed the little imp's anger with a wave of his hand, "Whatever. Hey you wouldn't happen to be looking for a tamer would you? Because I know this one guy who likes wearing makeup too; and I'm sure the two of you would be great partners." Naruto said with a smirk on his face.

"As if I'd ever wanna team up with some snot nosed brat," Impmon replied before returning his attention back to Renamon, "Listen here toots I think you're real sad, you wanna why? It's because that tamer of yours got ya thinking that you can't do anything without her. And if ya actually believe that you're in serious denial lady. There's a whole other world out there, actually a couple of them."

'_Actually a few more than that,'_ Naruto thought to himself.

"But you won't ever see them if you're happy while fetching bones for some lousy human." He finished before he looked back toward Naruto who had remained quite during Impmon's little rant. "As for you, maybe this will teach you not to stay out of other digimon's business." Impmon ignited a small fire on one of his fingers before throwing it at Naruto, "Ba-da Boom!"

Naruto didn't react physically, as he watched the small flame draw closer to him. When it was close enough he blew it out like he would a birthday candle. When he looked back at where Impmon was standing he found that the small virus had disappeared.

"Hey, take it from me toots, you got to quit being stupid to really be free, get away from that human immediately! Ha ha! Ba Boom!" Impmon's voice carried over from somewhere.

"So what do you think?" Naruto asked as he looked at Renamon, who jumped down to the ground from the telephone wire.

"About what?" she questioned in return.

"About not really needing Rika," Naruto replied simply

Renamon was hesitant to answer, Rika's treatment and expectations of and for her making her unsure, and she made it known. "I'm not sure."

Naruto hummed in thought for a second before asking her something else, "Do you remember what I told Henry about why I fight back in the underground parking lot?"

Renamon thought about it for a minute, as she tried to recall what happened. She remembered her intentions to fight Guilmon and instead ended up fighting the Patamon and Coronamon. She then recalled what the blond haired boy said to the half Chinese tamer, "That you fight to protect."

Naruto nodded his head, but he decided to clarify things a bit. "I fight to protect that which is precious to me," Naruto said, "It's something that I learned from a friend a few years ago, though it sometimes feels like a lifetime ago. He taught me that when you are protecting those who are precious to you, only then can you become truly strong. I can't think a better example of that than the bond between a digimon and their partner."

"What's the point of telling me this?" Renamon asked curiously.

Naruto shrugged dismissively, "Maybe I'm trying to help you achieve something both you and Rika want, or maybe I just feel like hearing myself talk. Who knows?"

As soon as Naruto finished talking what looked like a geyser erupted from the direction of the park, and his D-arc went off signaling that a digimon had just bioemerged.

"You should go. Rika is probably already on her way." Naruto stated, as Renamon nodded her head in agreement. Before she fazed away Naruto spoke up, "Renamon don't tell Rika about me being here, okay?" Though he didn't say it as an order Renamon knew that it had come close to one. She knew that she wouldn't be able to disobey as she nodded her head again, leaving in a burst of speed before completing disappearing. Naruto waited a couple of seconds before following after her wanting to make sure that nothing bad happened.

* * *

Looking around, Rika had just entered the Digital Field, and found that a lot of the trees were covered in spider webs with one large spider web straight in front of her. Combined with the misty fog like setting that the Digital Field naturally created, it made it is so the area had a slightly creepy/ominous feeling to it.

"What's with the webs?" Rika questioned, but before she could start to figure out the reasons for all the webs she heard Renamon's voice calling out to her.

"Rika, run!" shouted Renamon, but Rika wasn't given the chance to react to Renamon's warning when some spider threads were shot in her direction. "Watch Out!" Renamon yelled, as she tackled Rika out of the way of the, as of yet, unknown digimon's attack, somersaulting to land on her feet with Rika in her arms, "Are you all right?" Renamon asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Rika mumbled out still trying to wrap her head around what just happened in the last few seconds.

Looking up the two were treated to the sight of a large arachnid digimon crawling on the webs. It had four sets of legs, though the first two acted more like hands that were gripped on to the long orange-red locks of its messy hair. The second pair of legs had three leather belts on each of them, and the third and fourth pair of legs had yellow stripes, all of them with red claws. It had a yellow mask like helmet with many green eyes, and horns coming out of its side with black stripes on them. The large bulbous backside of the spider digimon had a large skull with crossbones design on it, with what looked like large red stingers coming out of it.

"Perfect, I was just thinking about what to do for dinner." Dokugumon said, as she looked down at her prey hungrily.

"Eat dirt." Renamon replied dryly setting Rika down.

"Ooh, you're spicy too." Dokugumon said in return in an almost delighted tone.

Unknown to them Naruto had just arrived and was watching, as everything played out, from behind a tree. With how things were between Rika and Renamon at the moment Naruto was sure that this fight, or one of the ones soon after, would mark the breaking point for the female tamer and digimon team. What happens afterwards was still up in the air. Pulling out his own D-arc Naruto read the information on the spider digimon Rika and Renamon were about to fight. _'Well this should be interesting.' _Naruto thought after reading the information. _'Good luck Rika, this fight won't be an easy one.'_ He finished, as he stared at the red headed tamer. His eyes momentarily going a bit lower than they probably should, before he shook his head and focused his attention on what was happening.

Bringing out her blue D-arc Rika read the data of the digimon for herself, "Dokugumon, whoa champion level, finally a worthy opponent. With her Poison Thread attack this spider's as deadly as she is ugly."

"Then I'd better step on her." Renamon said stepping forward ready to fight. Jumping up into the air Renamon started the fight with her signature attack, "Diamond Storm."

Moving faster than what was expected of such a large spider Dokugumon turned around defending herself from Renamon's attack with her own, "Poison Thread." The poison web catches the diamond shards slowing them down before they were disintegrated. When the last diamond shards were destroyed Dokugumon turned back around to face Renamon and unleashed a blast of poisonous purple gas, "Venom Blast!"

"Ahhh!," Renamon screamed in pain not being able to dodge Dokugumon's Venom Blast while in midair, which caused Renamon to fall backwards and being trapped in Dokugumon's web.

"Renamon, don't give up!" Rika shouted out to her partner, as she moved closer inadvertently drawing Dokugumon's attention to her. Seeing that Dokugumon's attention had shifted towards her tamer and was now making her way towards the red head, Renamon redoubled her efforts to break free from the web.

"Rika! Get out of here." Renamon pleaded when she noticed that Dokugumon had started to make her way toward the amethyst eyed girl, and that she wouldn't be able to free herself from the webs in time to rescue Rika from the arachnid digimon.

"Poison Thread," Dokugumon said capturing Rika in her attack making it impossible for her to run away. Jumping toward the vulnerable tamer Dokugumon was ready to sink her fangs into her. She had always heard that humans were a deliciously, and unless her sense of smell, even if she didn't have a nose, was wrong, the young virgins were especially delicious. Naruto seeing the danger that his friend was in, formed a Rasengan in his hand ready to blow a hole in the virus digimon, secrecy be damned, if Renamon didn't do something in the next two seconds.

'_Come on!' _Naruto thought angrily, going as far as growling in his mind, as he sent some chakra into his legs. _'It's time to see if you understand what it truly means to be strong Renamon.'_

With Rika being seconds away from becoming Dokugumon's next meal Renamon started to grow desperate in her struggle to get free in order to protect her tamer. Some of the webs finally snapped under the force she was exerting freeing her arms enough to be able to do something. Spreading her arms out diamond shards started to appear though there were far fewer than there usually was, "Diamond Storm!"

Dokugumon looking over her shoulder could see the attack drawing near and was able to move herself in midair just enough so that the attack completely missed her. It then became obvious what Renamon's true target was when the Diamond Storm shredded through the spider webs that held Rika captive.

'_Great job Renamon,'_ Naruto thought dissipating the Rasengan in his hand before going through some hand seals,_ 'But Dokugumon is still making her way toward Rika, so I'll help just a bit. Wind Style: Wind Bullet Jutsu.' _Finishing the last hand seal Naruto unleashed a blast of air that slammed into Dokugumon throwing her away from the young red head.

Rika watched as Dokugumon came closer towards her, even though Renamon was able to free her from the webs the fear of having a giant spider bent on eating her made her freeze in place. It was just a second, but Rika noticed that there was a slight distortion in the air next to the descending virus digimon before Dokugumon was sent flying away from her. _'What was that?'_ Rika thought in shock before shaking her head trying to focus on the matter on hand. There was still a fight to win after all.

"Rika, get out of here, now!" Renamon begged her partner trying to use her claws to slash through the webs that still held her, but the damn things were stronger than one would expect.

"I'm not going anywhere." Rika replied, as she grabbed a card from her deck holster and slashed it through her D-arc, "Digi-Modify… Snimon's Twin Sickles Activate!" Rika shouted.

"Time to cut loose!" Renamon said, as the new data changed her arms to two long sickles that easily cut through the spider webs freeing her. Putting her new powers to good use Renamon started to cut through as many of Dokugumon's webs as possible hoping to slow the arachnid digimon by getting her out of her element.

Picking herself up from where she crashed Dokugumon saw what Renamon was attempting to do. Crawling up the nearest set of webs, that Renamon hadn't gotten to yet, she moved as high as possible before unleashing her attack, "Venom Blast!"

Seeing the attack coming her way Renamon let herself fall back down toward the ground, and away from the poisonous gas. As soon as she landed Renamon jumped backwards rising up in the air and away from any of the purple gas that still lingered in the air, as she gathered energy in the two long sickles that were her arms, "Twin Sickles!" Renamon shouted unleashing a pink purple energy blade from each of the blades. The energy blades closed in on Dokugumon, but her mask helmet offered her some sort of defense as she was able to knock the energy attacks away from her without suffering any damage.

With most of her webs damaged by Renamon Dokugumon couldn't get close enough to her to attack, neither while Renamon was still in the air or the moment she landed. As soon as Renamon landed she rushed toward the closest tree and jumped off it boosting her speed, and shooting herself across the clearing at Dokugumon. Seeing Renamon coming at her Dokugumon turned around so she could try and trap the yellow kitsune and leave her as easy prey, "Poison Thread." Dokugumon said.

Renamon pushed as much power as she could into her hands igniting them in intense blue flames, "Power Paws!" she said slashing her left hand forward. When Renamon's blue flamed claws made contact with Dokugumon's webs there was only a moment resistance before the webs snapped, and with each web Renamon cut through it ignited with the same blue flame that was on her hands, though the flames spread at a slow rate. Thrusting her right hand forward in a jab Renamon aimed to hit Dokugumon right in the middle of the virus Champion's head, only to have Dokugumon jump away at the last second.

Looking back toward where she was just a second ago Dokugumon let out a hiss in anger, as she watched Renamon crash through another of her webs with little effort, "Poison Thread!" Dokugumon snarled out releasing multiple shots of spider webs in the digital fox's direction.

With all the spider webs that Renamon was being forced to dodge she didn't notice that she was slowly being forced into a corner by the poisonous spider digimon, as the webs slowly surrounded her. When Dokugumon noticed that Renamon was finally right where she wanted her she climbed onto one of the nearby webs before she started to jump from web to another moving in on Renamon at a fast pace. Knowing that she only had one chance of getting out of this trap Renamon prepared to launch her attack, "Diamond Storm."

All of the diamond shards headed in Dokugumon's direction, but the virus digimon jumped above them dodging them completely. Looking back at the fox digimon Dokugumon saw that Renamon was moving as fast as she could past all the webs, either through running on the ground or jumping through the trees wherever there weren't any webs. "I don't think so cupcake! Venom Blast," Dokugumon said unleashing a blast of poison gas in the direction that Renamon was heading. Seeing the poisonous gas right in front of her Renamon was forced to move back or end up surrounded by it. Scowling slightly Renamon immediately started looking for another way out.

'_I have to find a way out of here.'_ Renamon thought before she spotted a small opening that she could get through, _'There!' _Running to the opening as fast as she could the vulpine digimon weaved through the spider webs.

"Oh you want to get out? Here let me help you!" Dokugumon said her voice coming from right behind Renamon. Eyes widening in shock Renamon glanced behind her only to see one of Dokugumon's legs rushing toward her. Grunting in pain Renamon is tossed toward the opening she was running towards just a second ago, smashing through any and all of the webs that were in her way before she hit the ground in a role.

"Renamon!" Rika yells, as she runs toward her partner and kneels beside her.

"Rika you have to get out of here." Renamon told her again, as she struggled to get up.

"I don't think so," Dokugumon said crawling onto one of the webs so she was right above the two of them, "In fact why don't I finish the two of you off right now, Venom Blast!"

Seeing the blast of poisonous air heading their way Renamon forced herself to stand up between the attack and her partner.

'_Idiot!'_ Naruto yelled in his own mind, as he saw what Renamon was doing. _'It's poisonous gas! You're not going to stop it by just standing in front of it!' _he thought going through another sequence of hand seals, _'Wind Style: Great Breakthrough Jutsu.'_ Naruto thrust both his palms forward unleashing a blast of wind from them that blew all the poisonous gas away.

'_What was that?_' the female tamer and digimons all thought when they felt a strong gust of wind that dispersed all of the purple gas. A quick look around for the source proved pointless; as it appeared that they were the only ones there.

'_One more chance you two,'_ Naruto thought from his new position behind another tree, _'then I'll have to finish her.'_

While Dokugumon was busy looking around for what could possibly have created that wind Renamon took the opportunity to land a kick on her head while she could, which she then followed up with a punch that was covered in blue flames, "Power Paw!" before flipping backwards away from the virus type spider.

Dokugumon quickly recovered, as she landed on another web, and sent another blast of poisonous gas at Renamon, "Venom Blast."

The Venom Blast hit Renamon before she could react, and kept going heading straight toward where Rika was standing. Seeing her partner was being swallowed by the poisonous gas and that more was heading in her direction caused Rika to freeze again in worry, for both Renamon and herself. Then in a blink of an eye Rika found herself a few feet away from where the Venom Blast impacted with the ground, and being surrounded by warmth that she hated to think that she was slowly getting used too. Looking up Rika saw Naruto grinning down at her with his fox like grin.

"W-whiskers?" Rika asked in slight shock, but also a bit of relief.

"The one and only, that was close wasn't it Rika?" Naruto asked.

Rika was about to say something else when she felt what had to be Naruto's hand give her left butt cheek a small gentle squeeze. A tick mark appeared on Rika's head, as one of her eyebrows started to twitch. "Let me go you PERVERT!" Rika yelled punching him in the gut knocking the air out of him, as feel down onto his knees.

"Itai, what the hell was that for Rika?" Naruto wheezed out.

"So you can learn to keep your hands to yourself." Rika replied back.

"It's not like I meant my hand to be there. I was in a rush to save your ass from being killed by Dokugumon's Venom Blast." Naruto said, _'and what a nice ass. Small and firm, yet nice and round,'_ Naruto thought to himself before shaking his head incase Rika notices something he didn't want her too.

"Whatever," Rika muttered angrily before the sound of something hitting the ground drew her attention to Renamon who was lying on the ground. "Renamon!" Rika yelled running back toward her partner with Naruto following after her.

"Rika, I'm glad you're safe." Renamon said weakly before shifting her gaze to Naruto, "Please take her away from here." Renamon all but begged, as she once more struggled to get up. "I'll hold Dokugumon off as long as I can."

"You don't have to do that Renamon. Whiskers' digimon will take care of her." Rika said, as tears started to appear in her eyes before she looked around for the two orange digimon. When she didn't find them she turned her attention to Naruto, "Where are they?"

Naruto shook his head sadly before answering her, "They're not here I came on my own." Out of the corner of his eye Naruto saw that Calumon wasn't too far away from where they were standing, the red triangle on his forehead glowing slightly. _'Looks like you two might still have a chance.'_ Naruto thought realizing what the glowing red light might mean.

"Oh! Game over?" Calumon asked sadly his ears shrinking.

Turning her attention back to Renamon Rika's tears almost overflowing seeing her partner barely hanging on, "You can't give up Renamon, not now. Please!"

"Rika run while you still can."

"Don't go away, please don't leave me." Rika pleaded, as some tears finally spilled over.

"I have to, but don't worry Rika. You're not alone everything will be fine." Renamon replied closing her eyes.

"No, RENAMON!" Rika shouted holding Renamon as close to her as possible, as her D-arc started to shine brightly along with Renamon and the red mark on Calumon.

DIGIVOLUTION

"Renamon digivolve to… Kyuubimon!"

When the light died down in Renamon's place stood a much large fox digimon that looked almost exactly like Renamon except for a few differences. First of all this fox was much larger than Renamon and stood on all four legs instead of two. Her face was more fox like than before with a white muzzle, two blue markings under each eye, and a yin yang symbol on her forehead along with each leg. She had a longer mane than she did as Renamon, and pale blue flames flaring around her paws and tail tips. The two most notable differences were the white and red rope tied in a bow with two golden bells attached to it that was wrapped around her neck. And the other difference was the, now, nine flowing tails that she possessed each being tipped with the mystical pale blue flames.

'_Kyuubi…mon,'_ Naruto thought in a mixture of shock and awe, as he stared at the yellow furred kitsune. _'Should have guessed that something like this would happen if Renamon digivolved. Time to see if you can live up to your namesake Kyuubimon,'_ Naruto thought the tone of his thoughts going from amusement to one of expectation.

"Game time," Calumon said happily, as his ears grew back to their full length and the Zero Unit on his forehead stopped glowing.

"Let's play. Poison Thread!" Dokugumon said; her anger overriding any of the fear she felt in the fact that her opponent had just digivolved into her Champion form.

"Payback time," Kyuubimon stated calmly; spreading her nine tails apart each of them lighting up in a bluish-white fire, "Foxtail Inferno!" The nine balls of fire launch off of Kyuubimon's tails, as she sends them after Dokugumon's webs lighting all the remaining webs in the same blue fire.

'_Can she control them?'_ Naruto wondered, as he watched the fireballs move across the webs till they had ignited all the webs surrounding the spider digimon, and were now headed towards Dokugumon.

"Not so fast, hot shot!" Dokugumon said jumping off of the spider webs and falling towards her.

"Step into my parlor!" Kyuubimon replied, as she jumped into the air herself. "Dragon Wheel." Kyuubimon shouts starting to spin around in a circle creating a dragon out of the pale blue fire that lets out a roar before flying at Dokugumon. It moved around Dokugumon, like Kyuubimon's Foxtail Inferno did, surrounding her before it flips itself back around hitting Dokugumon from above, and turning her into data that Kyuubimon absorbed.

"You digivolved, but how?" Rika asked after her partner landed in front of her.

"It was thanks to you Rika you made me digivolve," Kyuubimon replied, "you made me stronger. You weren't afraid to show how much you cared about me. Like a true friend."

"Hm I see," Rika said gently placing her hand against the fox digimon's cheek getting Kyuubimon to lean her head against it, "do me a favor? Don't tell anyone."

"That was very touching," a familiar voice said, "Don't worry Ri-Chan this will stay between the four of us, right Calumon?" Naruto finished looking at the small white digimon, while Rika's face burned a bright red remembering that the blond haired boy was there and saw everything.

"Right," Calumon said, though he didn't have the slightest idea about what was going on.

"But seriously Ri-Chan I'm glad that you finally realized what you have to do if you want to become stronger." Naruto said.

"Whatever," Rika mumbled refusing to make eye contact with her sapphire eyed friend.

Naruto let a smirk cross his face, "And now that you are being honest with your feeling you can be honest with what you feel about me." He said teasingly.

The blush that Rika managed to make go away returned when she heard what Naruto said, "W-what the hell are you talking about?" Rika questioned in both anger and embarrassment.

Naruto ignored the flustered girl's question, as he turned his attention to the small white creampuff. "Hey Calumon how about you spend the night at my place? I'm sure that Patamon and Coronamon will be happy to see you."

"Sure," Calumon said jumping onto the blonde's head. "Will we get play a bunch of games and a lot of yummy food?"

"Of course," Naruto answered, as he made his way out of the park.

"Where do you think you're going!" Rika shouted out to the blonde's retreating form, "Stupid pervert don't think I'm going to let you just leave after saying something like that and what you did earlier." Rika finished chasing after the shinobi tamer, with Renamon following silently after her tamer with a small smile.

* * *

_Couple of Days later_

When Takato woke up he could already tell that it was going to be a good day, as he got up out of bed. After going through is usual morning routine Takato reentered his to find that some clothes had been laid out for him, taking a closer look he found that it was an exact replica of Davis Motomiya's Digital World clothing, and quickly put them on.

'_Mom and Dad must of gotten me these.'_ Takato thought excitedly, _'They're kind of cool I guess.'_ Looking at the clock that was on his desk Takato's eyes widened when he noticed how late it was, he already wouldn't be able to meet Kazu and Kenta like he usually did. _'That's too bad I would have loved to rub that I got some awesome new clothes in Kazu's nose.'_ Rushing out of his home Takato gave his a quick, "See ya after school," before running out the door.

When Takato finally made it to class he was one of the last ones there, he also didn't notice evil smirk that Naruto had, as he made a quick hand seal to dispel the fox illusion that were on the clothes that _**he**_ left for Takato. _'Payback time Takato.'_ Naruto thought.

When everyone in the class stopped to stare at him Takato was sure it was because his awesome new clothes and they were envious of him, he was partially right. The virus tamer was therefore very confused when they all suddenly burst out laughing and were pointing at him. Looking down thinking that he might have stained his clothes on the way there, so he was obviously surprised that instead of blue jacket with flames on it and brown shorts that he was wearing a white and pink shirt, long pink gloves and yellow shorts. Takato's face became as red as a tomato when he realized that the clothes he had on were an exact replica of Kari's.

'_How did this happen,'_ Takato asked himself, as he desperately tried to figure something out about the situation he was in.

Naruto chuckled to himself, as he watched Takato become frantic. Sure this might be a bit cruel, but it wasn't like he was going to let things get too out of hand. Fox illusions were one of the few things he was able to master when it came to using Kyuubi's power. They worked kind of like Genjutsus except that they had… conditions was a good word for it. When a Genjutsu is released the illusion is broken and that's it. But Fox illusions were different in the fact that the caster of the illusion could decide certain conditions for the creation and release for the illusion. The illusion on Takato's clothes made it so anyone who sees them would automatically see a replica of Davis' clothes; of course any Genjutsu user could do this. It was the release of the illusion that made it special. When Naruto released just now it made it so only those in the room would see what the clothes actually looked like and anyone else Naruto chose. While the rest of the school, and anyone on Takato's walk back home, would just see him wearing his usual clothes. A couple of other conditions that Naruto set was that anyone that those who did see the release would forget about it after the end of the week, and considering that it was Wednesday Takato only had to put with it for two more days, and finally that they wouldn't be able to talk about it outside the classroom, to keep word from spreading.

'_I'll have to destroy any pictures others take.'_ Naruto thought watching as a couple of the other kids took out the phones, _'Well I'll take care of that later, and might as well enjoy this_. _And this is only the beginning Takato.'_ Naruto finished with a small smirk on his face that quickly became more evil in appearance. Looking down at his desk Naruto had a notebook out with the words "Henry", "Jackie Chan", and "The song: Kung Fu Fighting" written on one of the pages.

"_Now how can I get my revenge on you Henry?"_

* * *

**AN: Alright that's it no more for this chapter. Please remember to review and let me know what you think. **


	8. When Digimon Start to Disappear

**AN: Here is the next chapter for Shinobi of the Digital Hazard. I want to apologize right now for how long it took, but it's getting harder for me to find reason to write. That in NO way means I'm giving it up though.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto, Digimon, or anything else that may appear in this Fic.**

* * *

When Digimon Start to Disappear

"Talking"  
_'Thinking'_  
**"Megidramon"  
(Author Notes)**

The day after Renamon digivolved for the first time into Kyuubimon, Naruto was sitting at his desk in his room looking up all possible information that he could find on Lucemon through the Digimon Database that was on his laptop, before he had to leave for school. Since Megidramon told him about what happened to the portal that was supposed to bring him supplies from his world, Naruto had been looking for any and all information he could possibly find on the angel Digimon, who was likely responsible for its disappearance. And what he found was disconcerting to say the least.

Lucemon was not only one of the Seven Demon Lords, but the strongest one of them as well. Even as a Rookie level Digimon Lucemon was supposed to have more than enough power to take on most Ultimate level Digimon, than there was his other two evolutions that were even stronger. The most information he could get on them was what they looked like, a grown up angel that also had devil wings and a large evil purple and gold dragon, and a couple of their attacks. He got about the same amount of information for the other six Demon Lords when he looked them up on the Database, but considering they were all Mega level Digimon he didn't really need much more information to know that they were all extremely dangerous.

Naruto couldn't help the small smirk that crossed his face; the possibility of facing such a strong opponent in the future was exciting. He was now the new Kyuubi and while that might mean he was extremely powerful it also meant that there weren't all that many people he could fight and go all out against, but here was an opponent he wouldn't need to hold back on when they finally meet. He of course also knew that he wouldn't be able to fight all Seven Demon Lords by himself, if the need to fight them ever arose, and that he would need the other tamer's help.

'_Of course things aren't all that bad either.'_ Naruto silently mused. Last night Rika had finally made a breakthrough in the way she treated Renamon. After almost losing the fox digimon to Dokugumon Rika finally showed how much cared for the yellow kitsune allowing Renamon to digivolve into Kyuubimon. The nine tailed fox digimon was than able to defeat the giant spider with little trouble. Naruto was truly happy for his friend she was finally starting to realize that digimon weren't just bits of data, and that they were actually alive. Hopefully she would now be a little more open minded to working with him and the others.

Noticing the time Naruto began to gather his things, "Hey Coronamon Patamon I'm heading out now." Naruto said to his two digimon, getting a goodbye from Patamon and a distracted halfhearted bye from Coronamon, before he headed out the door. Walking down the street on his way to school Naruto absentmindedly rubbed the back of his hand trying to soothe the slight pain he felt from where the symbol for the Digital Hazard was located, and ignore the minor headache he also had. He doubted it was anything to worry about, but it sure was a pain having to deal with it. He figured it was the Digital Hazard preparing to upload information into his head, like how Megidramon first did when he was sent here. Hopefully it would stop soon though.

* * *

_Hypnos HQ_

"Did you catch that energy fluctuation?" A short light-brown haired woman wearing a white jumpsuit and goggles covering her eyes asked. Since the day started there had been many spikes of energy throughout the city shortening out minor electrical devices, and wrecking varies traffic signals.

"I'm already searching for the source." Another woman, with long reddish-brown hair that wore the same outfit, replied back to the short haired woman, as she typed something on her keyboard, sitting in her chair that was back to back with the other woman's seat.

"This area sure has had a lot of activity lately. What do you thinks going on?" The short haired woman questioned curiously.

"I think something big is going to go down soon." The long haired woman replied honestly.

Hearing her colleague's answer the light-brown haired woman became slightly worried, "Like how big?" she asked somewhat nervously.

"If these readings are correct, and I think they are, then we're gonna get a level of bioemergents unlike anything we've seen before." The long haired woman said shocking her coworker with the likely hood that even more digimon would soon be bioemerging. The two lapsed into silence for a few seconds before the short haired woman spoke up again about something that she had been curious about for a while now.

"Hey Riley…?" the short haired woman began drawing her companion's attention. "Do you know why Yamaki was so interested on those files about that kid, Naruto Uzumaki, he asked you to find for him?" she asked curiously. "After all no matter how you look at it he just looks like an ordinary kid, right?"

"What makes you think I know anything?" The woman, now known as Riley, asked her somewhat accusingly, as she shifted her head slightly to get a better look at her coworker.

"W-well it's, uh?" the short brown haired woman began nervously, "Well it's just that between the two of us you're a lot closer to the boss than I am." She said cautiously not wanting to imply anything that dealt with Riley's relationship with Yamaki, even with all the rumors floating around about the two of them they were still just rumors, and she knew just how annoyed her friend became whenever they were brought up.

Riley was silent for a moment trying to decide if her friend really didn't mean anything more than what she had said. Finally she let out a sigh, before she went back to typing on her keyboard, and answered her, "Your guess is as good as mine. Yamaki didn't give me a reason and with him it's sometimes best not to ask." Riley answered truthfully. A few weeks ago Yamaki had asked/ordered her to find all possible information on a Naruto Uzumaki that was available. He never gave her a reason why, but he had specifically asked for her to report to him anything that was suspicious or strange with his papers, like if any of it was falsified in any way. Though when she turned in the information that she had gathered everything had come out legit and there didn't look to be anything wrong. After looking through the papers for hours Yamaki seemed to become only more frustrated by what he discovered as everything did in fact check out.

"Is that so?" The short haired woman murmured quietly, as the two fell into a comfortable, if not common, silence.

Not long after Yamaki marched into the room his lighter out opening and closing it repeatedly, "Riley, Talley report!" The blond haired man ordered stopping underneath the two women, and staring up at the screen covered ceiling.

"Sir, there have been energy fluctuations throughout the day." The short haired woman identified as Talley supplied.

"Is there any idea on what's causing these fluctuations or where they are originating from?" Yamaki questioned the two.

"The cause is still unknown, and we are currently trying to locate the source sir," Riley answered. Yamaki frowned, as he snapped his lighter shut before turning and making his way out of the room.

"Make sure to inform me immediately once you found something!" Yamaki ordered, as he left the room.

"Of course sir!" the two women replied in unison, as they returned back to searching for the source of the strange anomalies.

* * *

_Shinjuku High school_

"Wait, start at the beginning." The familiar voice of Henry said. It was in the middle of the afternoon during the last few minutes of lunch, as student's started to make their way reluctantly back to their classes. Currently the two tamers were in a hallway that was abandoned by the other students, allowing them to talk without having to worry about someone overhearing them, as Takato tried to explain what had happed earlier in the day to Guilmon.

"Okay we were just walking and then, I don't know it was like half of him was there and the other half was starting to be rubbed out by a malevolent eraser." Takato said frantically. It had to be one of the scariest things he had experienced in his short life so far. His best friend was literally disappearing right in front of his eyes and he didn't know why it happened, or what he could do to stop it from happening again.

Henry thought it over for a second before he gave his opinion, "Well digimon aren't of this world maybe some of them can't last long here and they get pulled back into their world, or something like that. Or maybe our world eliminates them like the body gets rid of a virus."

"But Guilmon just got here I don't want him to disappear. He just can't go back to the other side." Takato replied stubbornly refusing to accept that he was about to lose his digimon partner after such a short amount of time.

Popping up from out of nowhere Terriermon did his best to console the worried virus tamer, even if just a little. "Momentai, the world I'm from, the world you're from, they're really both the same world if you think about it." The rabbit digimon said from his perch on his tamer's shoulder.

"Yeah, well thanks, professor, but I want him here." Takato said back a bit of the hopelessness and sadness he was feeling creeping into his voice.

The half-Chinese tamer gave him a half sad half pitying look, "That may not be possible, Takato." Henry replied sadly.

"What? What are you trying to say, Henry? Do you know something? Tell me." Takato begged his friend sounding almost desperate.

"I just know that nothing can last forever, Takato. Nothing. I'm sorry." Henry said.

"Damn Henry, what's with that pessimistic attitude?" a voice questioned from down the hall startling the two boys and one digimon. Turning to the source of the voice they found a grinning Naruto walking toward them. "Did somebody steal your puppy or something?" he asked jokingly, as he looked between the two, "So what's going on?"

And so Takato retold how Guilmon suddenly started to disappear for no apparent reason, as the blond haired tamer listened intently.

"I'm not sure what caused it, but I don't think you should worry about it too much Takato." Naruto said after a moment of thought.

"But what do I do if it happens again? I don't want Guilmon to go back to the Digital world." Takato said the worry he felt still clearly evident on his face and in his voice for the other three to see. Naruto really couldn't blame the teen. In just a few short weeks Patamon and Coronamon had become some of the best friends he had ever had, he could only begin to imagine what Takato was feeling having created his digimon partner and now having to face the possibility of losing him.

Naruto patted Takato on the shoulder, as he gave the goggle wearing boy a reassuring smile. "Relax Takato worrying to much about it won't help things. Plus you said it yourself; you created Guilmon which means he's never been to the Digital world to begin with, so I'd be more worried about Coronamon and the others being pulled back than Guilmon." Naruto said before turning around and leaving, "Now come on the bell is about to ring, if we're late Ms. Asaji will triple our homework."

"But," Takato called out to Naruto still sounding worried, as he followed after his blond haired friend, giving a quick goodbye to Henry and Terriermon.

"You should listen to Terriermon and Momentai." Naruto said casually, as he waved to the remaining pair from over his shoulder.

Terriermon turned to face his tamer a large grin across his face, "See Henry, Naruto listens to me."

"Hm, for some reason that isn't all that reassuring," Henry replied calmly a hint of amusement in his voice.

* * *

The rest of the day passed by quickly with nothing of any real interest happening. At the end of the day Ms. Asaji was explaining something about a flood tunnel that extended all the way to Odaiba, but Naruto hadn't been paying too much attention to that. Since lunch his attention was focused on what Takato said happened to Guilmon, and what could have caused it. He understood Henry's idea about how the human world might be getting rid of the digimon because they didn't originally come from this world, but he didn't think it was that simple. When digimon crossed over to the real world their digital make-up changed slightly to adapt to their existence in this world, it was one of the things Naruto had noticed when he learned to read the binary code of both Coronamon and Patamon. It made them more than just data, but not quite flesh and blood. But if Takato was right and Guilmon was somehow being pulled away then something was bypassing the digimon's natural protection that allowed them to stay in the real world.

He would have to go home to make sure that nothing similar had happened to Coronamon and Patamon during the day, before he went over to the Nonaka residence and checked upped on Renamon.

After school let out Takato had become curious about where the little in-training digimon, Calumon, went when he didn't hang out with Guilmon or one of the other tamers. So he and Guilmon had begun searching for where the little creampuff went to during the day. Takato would have asked Henry and Naruto if they wanted to join him and Guilmon on this little adventure, but they both had already told him that they had something else to do. Though their search had come to an abrupt end when Guilmon had run off leading them to an alley, near the residential district, where Renamon was waiting for them, and soon after Rika had appeared behind them trapping them in the alley.

Rika didn't know what the goggle-head was doing here, so close to her home, and she didn't really care either way. She was getting annoyed at his continued sputtering, as he tried to figure out something to say to her, though she did smirk in slight satisfaction when Takato admitted that she could kick his butt if they fought. But the thing was she didn't feel like fighting the annoying goggle-head and his pet digimon. Plus the virus tamer would probably tell Naruto about this eventually. She blamed her change in behavior and lack of desire to fight completely on her… friend, her first real friend. He was slowly making her a better person just by being there for her. She cared about Renamon, after last night there was no way she could ever deny that, but there was also no denying that Naruto had slipped past all the defenses that she used to keep people away and became her friend before Renamon did, it was really…

"Look, maybe the two of us got off at the wrong foot. I'm Takato and you're Rika, right?" Takato said anxiously not wanting to anger the red head. He had been trying to convince her that there was no reason for them to fight, but she had just continued to look indifferent to everything he had said so far.

'_It was really annoying!' _What the hell is he going on about? Got off on the wrong foot? She hadn't said a word since she got here. She had been on a relaxing walk, on her way home, when Renamon had told her about Takato and Guilmon being close to her home before going off to investigate. Since she got here the brown haired teen had done nothing but stutter a few words about not wanting to fight, and wanting to just talk to her about something. "Fine," she finally said with a heavy sigh, as she turned away signaling for him to follow. They weren't given much of a choice when Renamon started to push them along.

* * *

The two tamers were at Rika's home in her backyard, as Rika sat on the walkway looking at Takato disinterestedly waiting for him to get started.

Seeing Rika's indifferent look made Takato fidget nervously, doesn't the girl express any type of emotion, that wasn't anger or annoyance, "I admit I saw you in a dream awhile back, and that's what's been really bugging me because I don't know what it means. But, don't get the wrong idea, I'm not following you around cause of that, I just had some questions about digimon, okay?" He finished in a rush.

"All right kid, don't get your underwear all bunched up." Rika said evenly, if not a little coldly. She might be more open toward Naruto and Renamon, but that didn't mean that she had to put up with the young teen's babbling.

"What do you mean kid, we're the same age." Takato commented offended getting over a bit of his nervousness.

Rika gave the boy a glare that immediately made him nervous again by taking away the little courage that he had gotten over her last comment, "I'm calling you kid because you don't know anything about anything. You show up talking about seeing me in a dream, do you know how weird that is?" The red head asked in an annoyed voice.

"I'm...I'm sorry, I just thought that...well that maybe we could work together." The goggle wearing boy admitted quietly looking down at the ground for a moment before focusing back on her.

"Well we can't." The amethyst eyed girl stated.

"But why not?" he asked her curiously, "Aren't we like um friends, or something?"

"What gave you that idea?" she replied incredibly an eyebrow arched in question.

"Well your friends with Naruto aren't you" Takato asked her, though he didn't wait for her to answer before he continued talking, "So I guess it's like that saying goes, um how does it go again, uh 'the friend of a friend is my friend too?'" he finished unsurely at the end.

Rika let out a sigh at the boy's naivety, or stupidity she wasn't sure which, "The expression you're talking about is 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' goggle-head."

"Oh yeah, knew it went something like that." Takato replied sheepishly.

Before anything else could be said an elderly voice called out to Rika getting hers' and Takato's attention from inside the house, "Rika!" Seiko Hata's voice called, as the sound of her footsteps drew closer to where the two teens were talking to one another. At the sound of her grandmother's voice Rika couldn't help the slight groan that escaped her lips at having her grandmother come home at that moment, as Renamon quickly grabbed Guilmon and dragged him behind the house so Seiko wouldn't see him. "You home?" Rika's grandmother asked before opening one of the sliding doors to their house to see the two teens, "Oh, hi. Uh, I'm sorry, it's not every day that Rika brings a friend home, and you're only the second friend she's actually brought here. What's your name?"

"Oh, I'm Takato." He answered the elder woman politely, "And second?" The virus tamer questioned curiously.

Rika cut in before her grandmother was given the chance to answer the goggle-head's question, "He's not going to be here long. You're not." She finished saying the last part to Takato, making sure that there was enough force in her voice so that he understood that there was no alternative.

"Why don't I make a couple snacks? It'll only take a second to pop some cookies in the oven. How would you like them, Takato?" Seiko offered giving the brown haired boy a gentle smile.

"Thanks that sounds great." He said.

"That's okay, Grandma he's not staying. You're not." Rika repeated herself.

"I guess it will be tea and snacks for three then. Well, bye. Hope you come see us again sometime."

"Sure!" the virus tamer replied.

"You're not." The amethyst eyed girl muttered before realizing what it was that her grandmother had just said. "Wait, three?" she asked just a hint of dread leaking into her voice on who the third person would be. There were only two possibilities, but neither were ones she was practically happy with at the moment.

"Seiko-Obaachan, I've put all the groceries away." A familiar voice to all occupants called out from inside the house. From the doorway that Seiko had just come through the familiar spikey blond hair of Naruto appeared. The blond haired boy stared in momentary confusion, as he realized that Takato was also there, "Takato? What are you doing here?" He asked him.

"Uh, nothing really I just sort of ended up here." Takato answered in somewhat of a daze, "What about you? I thought you said you were busy." Takato asked his friend in return.

"I was," the cerulean eyed boy stated, "but I finished, so I decided to come and visit Ri-Chan and met Seiko-Obaachan not to far away and decided to help her with carrying the groceries." He finished, getting a thank you from Seiko for his help before she left to get the tea and snacks ready for later, as he took a seat beside the slightly red faced girl. Her face turning red seemed to happen a lot more often since she met the blond haired boy.

"Ri-Chan?" the red eyed boy asked in bewilderment, as he gaze shifted between the two teens.

"Let go!" Guilmon shouted from behind the house the moment that Seiko had closed the door behind her. Seeing as the elder woman was no longer present Renamon released the hold she had on the small dinosaur digimon causing him to fall to the ground drawing a light chuckle out of Naruto.

"Um, so listen...what I wanted to ask you was whether or not digimon turn back into data? I mean do they ever just disappear and go back to their own world?" Takato asked the red haired tamer a lot less nervous and nowhere near as afraid of Rika now that he wasn't alone with her.

"Of course," Rika stated obviously.

"You're still worried about that?" Naruto asked him.

"Yeah," Takato answered nodding his head, "I know that you said not to Naruto, but there is something going on that is trying to take Guilmon away and I don't know what to do." He said before he turned his attention back to Rika, "Not like when you defeated Vilemon, but for just like no good reason?"

"Digimon are just data anyway, so...probably. Why? What's going on?" She asked them a bit frustrated with the fact that she was obviously being left out on something. Deciding it was best to answer her question Naruto explained what happened to Takato and Guilmon earlier that day. He had also admitted to having gone home to check up on Patamon and Coronamon to see if anything similar had happened to them at some point during the day before he decided to come here to ask her about it.

"Doesn't that...make you sad at all?" Takato questioned her referring to her answer from before.

Rika didn't respond to his question, or rather she wasn't sure how to respond. With everything that had been happening lately she couldn't honestly say she knew what the answer to the brunette's question would be. Cutting a quick look toward Renamon Rika was sure that at least a part of her would be sad if Renamon suddenly disappeared from her life. Naruto caught the side long glance Rika threw Renamon and smiled softly. Slowly but surely Rika was changing for the better. A part of Naruto believed it could be because of the so called power everyone back in the Elemental Nations said he had about being able to change people for the better, but an even bigger part of him was sure that it was because Rika was always meant to be the kind of person who cared very much for her friends, even if she didn't always show it and when she did it came out sounding kind of cold and/or mean.

Naruto's smile widened, as he turned his attention to the brunette in front of him, "Ri-Chan isn't really that good with being honest on how she feels." He said teasingly before shifting his gaze back to the red head, "Right, Ri-Chan?"

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Rika asked him suspiciously eyes narrowed.

"Oh nothing," the cerulean eyed boy replied casually with a shrug of his shoulders, but his sly smile never leaving his face, "Just that Ri-Chan still acts like she doesn't like it when I visit," Rika just 'hmphed', refusing to look toward Naruto or acknowledge his words.

Takato stared awkwardly between the two, feeling like he had been momentarily forgotten by them. "Um maybe I should leave now." He said unsurely only to flinch when Rika turned to glare at him, almost like she was demanding to know what he was still doing there.

Not too long afterwards Takato was leaving the Nonaka household and was saying his goodbye's to one fiery red head. "Well thanks, Ri-Chan; it's not every day you get to meet your dream girl." Takato said before laughing, "Sorry I just couldn't resist." He finished. Rika crossed her arms over her chest making a sound to voice her displeasure, as she sent the goggle-head one final glare before he left.

"Renamon, bye-bye," Guilmon called back to the yellow vulpine digimon with a wave of his claw, causing Renamon to 'hmph' and look away from the red raptor digimon before she disappeared from view.

"Hey!" Rika shouted to the retreating form of the brown haired boy drawing his and his partner digimon's attention.

"Yeah?" Takato replied.

"You mention that dream again and I'll send you to dream land for good." Rika threatened him before demonstrating her threat by throwing a kick in his direction that if he were closer would have connected with his chest. Suddenly Rika dashed forward throwing a punch aimed for Takato's head. Takato's eyes widened at first in surprise before closing them shut waiting for the pain that was sure to follow, but after a few seconds he hadn't felt anything but a small breeze of wind against his face. Tentatively opening an eye he gulped once he noticed that the fist was only a few inches away from his face. "And if you ever, **ever**, call me by that nickname again I'll make sure all those dreams are nightmares from now on. Got that?" She growled causing Takato to nod his head vigorously too afraid to say anything with the fist still so close to his face. Seeing that he understood Rika turned and entered her home slamming the gate close behind her.

"Man, she can't take a joke." Takato said, as he rubbed the back of his head nervously in a fashion similar to his blond friend before leaving with Guilmon just looking confusedly at his tamer, as he followed behind him unsure of what just what happened.

"So your Takato's dream girl?" Naruto questioned the amethyst eyed girl with a raised eyebrow and in obvious amusement having been able to hear everything from the other side of the gate. Rika let out an almost disgusted groan before glaring at Naruto.

"Don't think I won't send you to dream land too if you keep mentioning that." Rika muttered frustration in her voice. Naruto chuckled softly his arms up in order to placate the irritated red head in case she tried to carry out her threat.

"Okay, I've got it I won't bring it up again." Naruto conceded before his fox grin spread across his face. "Though I wonder why Ri-Chan got so angry with Takato for calling her by her nickname?" he asked no one in particular in mock wonder, as he gave her a look of obvious amusement.

"W-what are you getting at, Fishcake?!" Rika asked in a slightly flustered tone though she tried to come off angry.

"Nothing," Naruto said nonchalantly, as he shrugged his shoulders casually. "Well I should be leaving too." He continued.

"Oh, are you leaving already?" Seiko asked having come out and joined them while the two teens had been talking. "Why not join us for dinner?" She offered the blond haired teen.

"Sorry Seiko-Obaachan, but no," Naruto declined, as politely as he could while shaking his head, "I feel like I've been imposing on you lately and I don't want to be a burden on you." Naruto said clarifying his response.

"None sense," Seiko replied chiding the boy slightly for saying such a thing, "You are absolutely not a burden Naruto-Kun. You are more than welcome to come here for dinner whenever you want. We enjoy having you here don't we, Rika?" Seiko asked her granddaughter teasingly. Rika just mumbled something unintelligible out not willing to admit how much she actually enjoyed it when he came over. Not that she didn't mind when it was just her and her grandmother, but when Naruto was there things were just more… lively around her home. Naruto laughed quietly to himself, but still refused Seiko's offer saying that he still shouldn't be too dependent on Seiko's hospitality and make his own dinner for once, plus Coronamon and Patamon were still relying on him to make dinner for them. The one time he tried to teach Patamon and Coronamon how to cook they had nearly burned everything down, and Coronamon refused to eat ramen all the time like his tamer tended to do. "Alright," The grandmother relented, "But make sure to visit us soon Naruto-Kun."

"Sure thing," Naruto replied cheerfully, as he made his way out the front gate giving the two a wave farewell, which was returned by the elder lady. "Oh and Rika, you're not only Takato's dream girl you know?" The cerulean eyed boy said quickly before closing the gate behind him, as Rika's face turned a deep shade of red at what he was implying.

With the blond shinobi gone Seiko turned her attention to her granddaughter, watching as the blush her granddaughter sported slowly faded away, a small teasing smile on her face, "So Rika why did you get so angry with Takato when he called you 'Ri-Chan'?" She asked her coyly.

"I-I just didn't want him calling me that too." Rika stuttered refusing to make eye-contact with her grandmother. "Whiskers already calls me that all the time I didn't need the goggle-head doing that too."

"Is that so?" The elderly woman wondered, "I would have thought it was because you didn't like anyone but Naruto-Kun calling you by that nickname."

"O-Of c-course not!" Rika tried to say as steadily as she possibly could.

"If you say so dear." Seiko replied aloofly, as she went back inside Rika following behind her grumbling to herself, "Ah young love." The grandmother said quietly to herself, but still loud enough for Rika to hear, causing the red head to look away in embarrassment and deny her grandmother's accusation as best as she could.

* * *

_Hypnos HQ_

"Got another weird reading," Riley mentioned getting her boss's attention.

"For once it's not another wild one." Yamaki commented looking down at the readings that were displayed on one of the computer screens that were located all around the inside of the circular room.

"This was what I was talking about; I've never seen data like this." Riley said in slight awe of what she was seeing.

Clicking his lighter close, "Send a tracer," Yamaki commanded not at all impressed with the data he was seeing, to him it was just another anomaly that should have never had occurred.

"Already on it," Riley answered typing in the command to activate the tracer already knowing how Yamaki would react. On the screen the tracer appeared closing in on a cloud of data only to be absorbed by the cloud once it got close.

"What?!" Riley gasped in shock when the tracer suddenly disappeared.

"The tracer was absorbed. What is going on here?" Yamaki questioned aggravated, "Be ready to launch the Yuggoth program once I have it up and running." He ordered standing up.

"Yuggoth? But sir that's-" Riley began to protest only to be cut off at the end.

"Do not question my orders Riley!" Yamaki snapped at his subordinate.

"U-understood sir," Riley replied in a reserved tone, as she began to get everything ready.

* * *

_Naruto's Apartment_

After arriving home to the greetings of Patamon and Coronamon Naruto just finished making dinner for him and his two partner digimon when the phone in the hallway went off forcing the blond to answer it. "Hello?" The blond tamer asked into the receiver.

"Naruto!" the voice from the other side of the line shouted.

"Takato?" Naruto questioned unsurely, "What's going on?"

"Guilmon's disappeared!" Takato answered frantically.

"What happened?" Naruto said his voice suddenly deadly serious, as he waited for Takato to tell him what happened. Takato then went on to tell him how Guilmon had started to disappear like he had earlier that day only that this time it didn't stop until he was gone completely. He then told him how he got a signal from his D-arc pointing him toward the flood tunnel that Ms. Asaji had been talking about at the end of class. "Alright I'll be there as soon as I can. Have you called anyone else?" He questioned brown haired teen.

"I've called Henry and he's meeting me close to Guilmon's shed. I don't have Rika's number so I figured we'd all go and try to convince her to help us." Takato replied far more calmly than before.

"Don't worry about Rika I'll get her and then meet you and Henry in front of the flood tunnel." Naruto told him.

"Okay see you soon Naruto." Takato said before hanging up. Hanging up the phone Naruto turned to his two digimon who had come to see what was going on after their tamer hadn't returned immediately after answering the phone. Giving them a quick summary of what was happening the three set off towards Rika's before meeting up with Henry and Takato.

* * *

When Naruto finally made it to Rika's house it took him a few minutes to convince her to come with him without arguing, well without much arguing. Arriving at the entrance of the flood tunnel Naruto noticed that Takato and Henry were anxiously waiting for them, with every few minutes Takato glancing toward the entrance worriedly. Noticing the last arrivals had made it Takato started to approach the entrance of the flood tunnel.

"Alright this is it guys. This is where Guilmon disappeared." Takato stated firmly.

"Rika," Renamon suddenly spoke up drawing everyone attention to her. Looking down at her hands everyone saw that her paws looked like they were fading out of existence.

"It's happening to Renamon, too!" Takato said alarmed.

"Don't move." Rika ordered her digimon.

"Hey check it out." Terriermon said holding up his ears showing that they were fading away too. Naruto looked at his own digimon who had moved toward the entrance when they arrived and saw that Patamon's ears along with Coronamon's tail had started to fade away.

"I'm not sure what's going on, but obviously whatever it is, is only affecting the digimon." Naruto commented, as he watched Coronamon and Terriermon stick out different body parts in the entrances direction, watching as the body part started to fade out before they pulled it back, laughing all the while. "We will have to find Guilmon on our own. The other digimon should leave so whatever is doing this doesn't take them too." Naruto said with a sigh. Coronamon and Patamon immediately nodded their heads and started to make their way to the park that was nearby. Renamon almost followed after them perceiving Naruto's advice as an order, but just managed to restrain herself from leaving until Rika said it was alright.

"It's okay, you can go." Rika said evenly though she hadn't missed the fact that Renamon had almost left when Naruto had said so, getting a nod from Renamon before she left disappearing in a burst of speed. With how close she had recently become with the blond Rika had almost forgotten about all the enigmatic things that seemed to surround him. But she remembered now and she was more determined than ever to figure out what he was hiding, especially now that she's seen for herself what kind of affect he had over Renamon.

"I suppose you want me to go too, huh?" Terriermon questioned his tamer and getting a nod from him, "Fine." He said simply before walking off, following in the same direction that Coronamon and Patamon took.

"Good now that the other digimon are safe we can begin looking for Guilmon" Henry said pulling out his D-arc the screen showing an arrow pointing toward the flood tunnel. "I'm getting a signal, come on, let's go." Takato and Henry began to walk away, but when Naruto made to follow after them he suddenly grabbed his left hand and barely managed to suppress the scream from the sudden pain he felt. Though he managed to keep himself from screaming from the sudden pain the muffled gasp wasn't missed by the others.

"Whiskers are you alright?" Rika asked him, some concern actually managing to find its way into her voice.

"Naruto what happened?"

"Are you okay?"

Takato and Henry asked respectively both concerned for their friend.

'_Damn,'_ Naruto thought to himself still clutching his left hand, _'Whatever is down there is also affecting the Digital Hazard. It doesn't seem to be strong enough to cause me to disappear like the digimon, but it sure as hell hurts.'_ "Yeah I'm fine. I just burned my hand while I was making dinner earlier and it suddenly flared up nothing to worry about." Naruto lied smoothly letting go of his hand and took a couple of steps forward, managing to ignore the pain he was feeling in his hand now that he knew what to expect. "Come on Guilmon is waiting for us to rescue him."

Seeing that their friend seemed fine now Henry and Takato turned back around and continued moving forward, with Naruto following behind them, but Rika wasn't convinced by Naruto's excuse like the others were. Takato and Henry hadn't seen it because they had been focused on getting over the locked gate, but Rika had been staring at Naruto trying to figure out any clue on him that might help explain what he was trying to hide, when he took a step forward and suddenly grabbed his hand. But the reason that she wasn't convinced was because she noticed that he grabbed his hand when he was exactly the same distance from the entrance of the flood tunnel as the digimon when they had started to disappear, and she seriously doubted that it was mere coincidence.

'_Just what are you trying to hide, Fishcake?'_ Rika wondered to herself her suspicions over the blond once more rising, as the others entered the tunnel without her.

* * *

"Why don't they make tunnels that aren't dark and scary?" Takato wondered out loud, as he took in his surroundings sounding just a tad bit afraid.

"Because then these places wouldn't be nearly as cool." Naruto said a wide smile spreading across his face not at all disturbed by how the tunnel looked.

"Aren't you afraid, like at all?" Takato questioned him disbelievingly.

"Nope," Naruto answered plainly, "You'd be surprised just how many times I visited a place similar to this before." His two friends looked at him strangely wondering why he would hang out in such a place, but decided it was better that they didn't ask. The male tamers were about to begin their search for Guilmon when they heard the door open behind them turning around they found Rika standing in the doorway.

"Hey, Rika! You decided to come! That's awesome!" Takato said excitedly drawing Rika's indifferent gaze to him, "Uh, you know whatever." He finished uncertainly.

"A real tamer doesn't walk away from danger." Rika stated, as she walk down the stairs joining them. "Plus I had to make sure that idiot there didn't hurt himself more than he already has." She added gesturing toward Naruto.

"I knew you cared about me Ri-Chan," Naruto said with a smirk.

"Whatever," Rika muttered crossing her hands over her chest.

"Alright enough talking, let's go find Guilmon." Henry said cutting in before Naruto could say anything.

"Yeah! Um, it is kind of scary down here though, right guys?" Takato couldn't help but to comment on causing Rika to groan and Naruto to snicker silently to himself.

After walking down the tunnel for a while in a placid silence Takato had finally decided to break it by asking Naruto something he had been wondering about since he saw him earlier that day. "Um, Naruto?" he began getting an 'hmm' from Naruto and took that as a sign to continue, "Since when have you known where Rika lives?"

"Why do you care?" Rika asked him instead in an indignant tone.

"Oh no reason, you know just curious." Takato answered her quickly causing Rika to grunt before turning her attention back in front of her.

"Well you guys remember how someone invited me over for dinner a few weeks ago?" Naruto began getting nods from both Henry and Takato, "Turns out that it was Rika's grandmother who invited me, and I've been visiting them every once in a while since then."

Rika snorted a bit at the 'every once in a while', "More like all the time." She muttered under her breath.

Naruto ignored the red head's mutterings and instead focused his attention on Takato, "Why? Are you jealous that I've been spending so much time with your dream girl?" He asked Takato with a teasing smile causing the goggle wearing teen to sputter in embarrassment, though the blond was forced to dodge a punch from Rika for mentioning that dream again. Her face gaining a red tint as she remembered what Naruto had said before he left.

"It's nothing like that!" The virus tamer cried out frantically.

"It's okay you know," Naruto said patting his back, "Ri-Chan is a very beautiful girl. Besides have you looked at her a-"

"SHUT UP!" Rika shouted cutting him off having a good idea of what he was about to say, as she once more tried to hit him only to have him move away.

"Okay I won't say anything relax Ri-Chan." Naruto relented, as he gave her one of his infamous grins before looking back toward Takato. "Now that I think about it Jeri is kind of cute too, right?" he said almost offhandedly making Takato's face develop a light blush, as he was reminded of his not so secret crush. When Naruto mentioned that he thought that this Jeri was cute Rika balled up her fists, as her heart clenched painfully for some reason. She wasn't sure why or what it meant, but Rika did know that she didn't like Naruto's comment.

"How long is this stupid tunnel anyway?" Rika asked angrily in an attempt to change the topic.

"My teacher said it goes all the way to the next town." Takato answered managing to get his blush under control.

"That's so stupid." Rika said in frustration.

"Well if it makes you feel any better Rika, the tunnel might flood and we could all swim there." Henry replied sarcastically.

"Hey guys, look!" Takato exclaimed to them having been looking down at his D-arc when he got a signal.

"Takato I think you might want to look at this instead." Naruto said flatly, as he looked up toward what roughly looked like a normal digital field, except for the data that swirled around it, the others staring at it in awe as well.

"What is it?" Takato wondered before shaking his head, "Well whatever it is Guilmon must be inside of that thing, I know he is! Guilmon!" he shouted toward the digital field in the hope that Guilmon might hear him and respond.

"Don't be stupid, how could you possibly know that?" Rika asked him incredulously.

"I don't know how, I just feel that he's in there." Takato replied. Suddenly Takato's D-arc started to glow a beam of light coming out of it before Naruto's, Rika's, and Henry's D-arc did the same thing. "What's going on?" The brown haired boy asked.

Henry looks at his D-arc inquisitively for a moment before answering, "The digivices connect us to our digimon, and maybe we can use them to get to Guilmon." Henry said after thinking about it for a second before pointing the D-arc at the cloud of data, with the other three tamers soon copying him.

"Look, something's happening!" Takato said excitedly. The point where all four lights met started to shift around before an opening in the data cloud appears.

"It opened." Henry stated in awe.

"Guilmon! Hold on, I'm coming!" The brunette shouted, as he pulls down his goggles and runs into the digital field.

"Well no point on staying here." Naruto said running after his friend, as he puts on his glasses.

"Hey! Wait!" Henry shouts after his two friends following after them after putting on his green tinted glasses.

Rika sighs to herself muttering a quick, "Stupid," As she follows after her fellow tamers putting on her blue tinted glasses.

After running into the digital field all the tamers appear floating on nothing. Unlike normal digital fields this one didn't show the rest of the tunnel, only an endless white mist with no way to distinguish what way was up or down. The tamers momentarily took in their surroundings, as they tried to get their bearings.

"Maybe the Digital World from the TV show is real and we're in it." Henry supplied after a while.

"The Digital World definitely has to exist." Naruto said, "But I doubt that this is it Henry." The sapphire eyed boy finished, as he spotted something red being tied up in what looked like light blue cords.

"Guilmon, I think I see him." Takato said having also spotted his partner digimon in the distance. The Digital Hazard tamer began making his way toward his raptor digimon by moving through the air as if he were swimming. "Cool, this is how I fly in my dreams."

"Hey wait up!" Henry called out to his friend copying his actions to move through the air.

"Ugh, you and your dreams," Rika muttered following after the other two tamers by the same way they moved.

They had all moved only a couple of feet forward before they heard a snickering coming from above them. Looking up the three tamers saw Naruto grinning down at them, as he smoothly glided through the air without having act like he was swimming, amusement clearly evident in his eyes.

"Do you guys have any idea how silly you look like right now?" Naruto asked them.

"How are you doing that?" Rika asked him instead.

"The same way you guys are 'flying'," Naruto said shrugging his shoulders, "When a person swims they're pushing against water in order to move forward, but there is no water here just this mist, so how are you moving forward? It's because you guys think you will move forward that makes it happen. So I'm doing that without having to swim." The blond haired shinobi explained.

"Since when have you been so smart?" the amethyst eyed tamer questioned him with a raised eyebrow.

"That's mean Ri-Chan. I'll have you know that I've always been smart." Naruto replied with a pout, ignoring the fact that he was originally an idiot.

"That's enough you guys. We have to save Guilmon." Takato cut in, as he began moving toward his digimon again like Naruto had been doing, with the others following soon behind him. "There he is! Guilmon, wake up!" Takato shouted once he was close enough to Guilmon to be heard.

"Right now? Five minutes." Guilmon begged sleepily opening his eyes. Takato couldn't help but to smile and laugh at his digimon's behavior.

"Don't worry boy, I'll get you out of there, somehow." Takato said to him his voice wavering near the end, as he felt relief spread through him. That relief was short lived when suddenly three spheres connected by electricity appeared on the other side of the field, close to where Guilmon was tied up. "What is that?" Takato asked in surprise.

"Look it's being erased!" Rika said pointing toward the cords that were holding Guilmon, as they slowly began to disintegrate.

"I won't be able to reach him in time." Takato realized frantically, "Help."

"Sure thing," Naruto said grabbing one of Takato's hands and swung him around before throwing him in Guilmon's direction.

Seeing his tamer coming closer Guilmon snapped the bindings that were keeping him restrained freeing himself just as Takato reached him. Takato embraced his partner happy to be reunited with his digimon after being so close to losing him. "I thought I was gonna lose you for sure." The virus tamer told his partner digimon honestly. While still holding on to him the mini dinosaur started to glow a bright red before it shot out creating a way out.

"He's created a road for us!" Henry said, as he landed on the recently created road.

"Yeah, well Renamon could've done the same thing." Rika said, refusing to have Renamon and herself up shown by the rookie tamer, as she landed on the road.

"Now there is no need for that," Naruto said his fox grin in place, as he landed. "Besides with Patamon and Coronamon they could make two roads or one that is double this size." He bragged while internally he was thinking something else entirely. _'Could this be the Digital Hazard in Guilmon surfacing?'_ He wondered, as he stared intently at the virus digimon.

"You okay?" the brunette asked the red dino after releasing his hold on the digimon.

"Skating on sausages," The Rookie level digimon replied cheerfully.

'_What the hell kind of expression is that,'_ Naruto wondered incredulously with a sweat drop running down the back of his head.

"Have your reunion later, we've gotta get out of here before we're erased!" Henry voice shouted cutting into Naruto's thoughts, Rika and him having already made a run for the outside.

"He's right, get moving you two we have to get out of here!" Naruto yelled out toward them his voice slightly strained, as the headache he had been feeling all day was making his head throb. The digimon and tamer pair nodded to each other before they began making a run for the outside, passing by Naruto who had decided to wait for them to pass before following after them.

As they drew closer to the exit Naruto looked behind him and silently cursed to himself as he noticed that whatever was deleting the field was catching up to them quickly, and by how fast it was moving they wouldn't be able to make it out before it reached them, not to mention that whatever was causing this was also affection the Digital Hazard making his arm hurt more than before. Just as he realized this, the headache had been feeling reached its peak, as information started to enter his mind, making the headache disappear, and for a large grin to split his face. Making sure that the others were focused on getting out, Naruto stopped and turned around holding his left hand forward fingers spread the Digital Hazard symbol on the back glowing.

"Time I show you exactly why the Digital Hazard is the most dangerous virus to ever exist!" Naruto muttered a fierce determination in his eyes, "Digital Hazard: Data… Destruction!" in less than a second Naruto read and understood the entire binary code of the program he now knew was called Yuggoth. It took even less time for him to start deleting its code effectively destroying the dangerous program.

* * *

_Hypnos HQ_

Not too long ago Yamaki had ordered the activation of the Yuggoth program, a program he not only created but designed it specifically to destroy anything that crossed over from the Digital World. So with a satisfied smirk on his face he watched as the strange anomaly that had appeared earlier that day was slowly destroyed by his creation. That same smirk was quickly wiped off his face when **his** program was being deleted at an incredible rate.

Seeing what was happening Yamaki closed his lighter angrily, "What the hell is going on?!" He shouted demanding an explanation.

"We're not sure sir; something just suddenly attacked Yuggoth out of nowhere." Riley responded furiously typing away at her keyboard trying to get any possible data on what was the cause or save Yuggoth from deletion.

"At this rate there will be nothing we can do and Yuggoth will be destroyed." Talley added in her hands moving just as quickly across her own keyboard.

Yamaki scowled deeply, as he looked up at the screen that made up the roof staring at the spot that the strange anomaly and Yuggoth were being shown. Suddenly the image of Yuggoth and the field were replaced by a black symbol he had never seen before. The symbol was made up of four triangles with one being inside of a circle and the rest connected to it by its corners. Slowly more started to appear covering the entire screen.

"I don't suppose you have an explanation for that, do you?" Yamaki asked some his composure regained, but his voice was colder than before.

"Sorry sir, but whatever it is it's negating all our attempts to connect with Yuggoth and shutting down controls. We will have to reboot the system." Riley said.

'_Damn.'_ Yamaki thought, as the last of screen covered ceiling turned black before the symbol appeared again right in front of him, only this time it was much bigger and in red. A quick look around showed the same symbol behind him and to his left and right.

* * *

_Back in the Flood Tunnel_

It only took at the most a couple of seconds before he destroyed the Yuggoth program and turned back around and continue running toward the exit. But by the time Yuggoth was destroyed it had already caused enough damage to destabilize the field causing it to disintegrate on its own, thankfully though it was at a much slower rate than before giving him and the others enough time to get out.

Rushing past Takato and Guilmon, Naruto picked up Rika in a bridal carry, just for the hell of it, much to her displeasure and embarrassment, before shooting his way past Henry and making his way out side throwing a "Hurry it up," over his shoulder at the other three as he went along.

* * *

_Unknown Location_

A lone figure sat in a room covered in darkness making it impossible to distinguish his features. The door to the room slowly opened a sliver of light entering the room; though it did nothing to help reveal who the mysterious person was, as a small digimon that was round like a ball, with wings and feet its top being a covered in what could almost resemble a dark blue mask with a skull on the forehead, black fur covered legs, and red talons on its feet. The digimon entered nervously afraid of suffering his master's wrath for the bad news he was bringing him.

"S-Sire t-t-the virus you sent t-to the h-human world has been… destroyed." The digimon finished hesitantly, as it closed it eyes ready to be deleted by his master.

"_I already knew of the virus' deletion."_ The figure said his voice cold and indifferent, _"Tell me Demidevimon, what happened to the Kunemon that I had sent to accompany the virus into the real world."_ The shadowed figure ordered more than asked.

"M-master they didn't survive the crossing into the human world through Master's portal." The digimon, Demidevimon, answered still as nervous as before.

"_I see… It's what I expected to happen that's why I chose such weak and pathetic digimon for the mission to begin with."_ The figure revealed talking more to himself than to the still frightened Demidevimon, _"Leave now Demidevimon."_ He ordered.

"Yes sire," Demidevimon replied at once before hastily making his way out the room, before his master changed his mind and deleted him, closing the door behind him once more engulfing the room in darkness.

"_Just a little more time and then I'll be able to send my minions through the portal into the real world." _The figure muttered.

* * *

_Nonaka Residence_

It was the weekend after the incident involving Guilmon and Naruto had been invited over to the Nonaka residence by Seiko for lunch. He had spent most of his time talking with Seiko about how the week had gone, and even managed to get Rika involved in a discussion on new card strategies and convinced her to have a match later. She had also been asking him a lot of questions about his past and home, though she tried to be subtle about it he still noticed.

They had all been sitting at the low table when Naruto's phone went off; when he checked the caller id it revealed that the caller was Henry. "Hello?" Naruto said answering his phone.

"Hey Naruto, I'm not calling at a bad time am I?" Henry asked him.

"No, not really," Naruto replied ignoring the light glare Rika was sending him, his phone having gone off while she had been talking. "What's up?"

"You remember how you asked to have a spar with me a few weeks back?" the half-Chinese tamer asked him getting a "Yeah," from the blond. "My Sensei had agreed to the spar, but we had to wait till after we got through a tournament that was coming up."

"So it's done?" Naruto questioned him.

"Yeah and Sensei said that if you still wanted that match we can have it today." Henry told him.

"Sure thing," Naruto replied happily, "Just need the directions and I'll be right there." Naruto finished getting the directions from Henry before hanging up.

"Is something the matter Naruto-Kun?" Seiko asked the blond tamer.

"It's nothing Seiko-Obaachan. Just a friend telling me we can finally have a spar." Naruto replied excitedly.

"I'm guess from the way you're acting that you've been looking forward to this?" Seiko questioned him with a smile on her face.

"Yeah," Naruto admitted with a nod, "I've wanted a chance to spar against Henry since I learned he practiced martial arts as well."

"Oooh, marital arts sounds exciting." A new voice said catching all their attentions. Turning toward the source they saw a blond woman fashionably dressed standing in the doorway. "Mind if we come to watch?" She asked the teen.

"Um," Naruto muttered unsurely not knowing who this woman was.

"Oh my where are my manners I haven't introduced myself have I?" The woman asked, "I'm Rumiko Nonaka. It's nice to finally meet you Naruto-Kun; my mother's told me so much about you.

* * *

**AN: And that is another chapter done, I hope you have all enjoyed it and please remember to review.**

**A few things I'm thinking of taking a break from writing this fic and focus on one of the others because of how long it actually took me to write this chapter. I'll still be working on this fic, but my main focus will another still not sure which though. **

**When I do finish writing the next chapter I promise that it will be far more interesting than this one, not only will it have the normal stuff but I'll be including Naruto's first meeting with Rumiko, his spar with Henry, and most likely having him fight some digimon. **

**Till next time remember REVIEW.**


	9. At Night Dinosaurs and Dragons Fight

**AN: Alright I got another chapter done and it didn't take me a month after my last update like it usually dose when it comes to my stories. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter. I also hope that you all have a Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you might celebrate this time of the year, and a Happy New Years.**

**Disclaimer: I do ****NOT**** own Naruto, Digimon, or anything else that may appear in this Fic.**

* * *

At Night Dinosaurs and Dragons Fight

"Talking"  
_'Thinking'_  
**"Megidramon"  
(Author Notes)**

_Last Time_

"_Oooh, marital arts sounds exciting." A new voice said catching all their attentions. Turning toward the source they saw a blond woman fashionably dressed standing in the doorway. "Mind if we come to watch?" She asked the teen._

"_Um," Naruto muttered unsurely not knowing who this woman was._

"_Oh my where are my manners I haven't introduced myself have I?" The woman asked, "I'm Rumiko Nonaka. It's nice to finally meet you Naruto-Kun; my mother's told me so much about you."_

_Now_

Naruto stared at the woman for a moment longer, as he took in her features. In a single word she was beautiful and could easily see why she was considered to be one of the most popular models in the business. Looking at the older blond woman, Naruto couldn't help but wonder what Rika would look like in a few years. The girl was already stunning and she would only get more beautiful with time, even more so then her mother even. Even as these thoughts crossed his mind he couldn't help but feel a sense of strange nervousness for some reason, as he stood in front of his best friend's mother. "Hello Nonaka-san it's nice to finally meet you," Naruto said to her with his patented foxy grin, while he rubbed the back of his head the only physical proof that showed how nervous he was.

Rumiko smiled at the blond haired teen, as she stepped into the room, "Now, now Nonaka-san makes me sound so old Naruto-Kun, I insist that you call me Rumiko. After all I'm not going to force my daughter's best friend to speak to me so formally, now am I?" She questioned the teen boy before examining the blond teen curiously. "Let's see here, you are handsome, beautiful shade of eye and hair color, and from what my mother has told me you are also kind, considerate, charming, and quite intelligent." Rumiko concluded nodding her head and crossing her arms under chest, Naruto blushing lightly at the grown woman's words, before turning to face her daughter. "I approve," The blond woman told the amethyst eyed teen with a wide smile.

"W-what do y-you mean you approve?!" Rika asked indignantly her face heating up slightly at what her mother was insinuating. "There is nothing to approve of!"

"Ah, to be so young again," Rumiko said with a wistful sigh escaping her lips. "You know Rika if you don't do something soon some other girl is going to snatch Naruto-Kun right up." She stated embarrassing the two tamers even more. Though what no one in the room seemed to notice was, not even the person in question, was how Rika unconsciously clenched her fists at the mention of some other girl getting together with her blond friend. "In fact if I was a few years younger…"

"Hello Rumiko dear," Seiko said greeting her daughter, sparring the teens from any further embarrassment, as she rose up from the table and gave her a hug, "What are you doing home so soon, I wasn't expecting you to arrive for another couple of days."

"Oh, we got the photo shoot done ahead of schedule, so I was able to come home early. Which reminds me," Rumiko answered before turning her attention toward her daughter, "Rika I bought you the most adorable dress." The blond woman told her daughter pulling out a white and light blue frilly sundress from one of the bags that she had been carrying. The look Rika gave the dress the moment she saw it made it obvious to Naruto and Seiko exactly what she thought of the dress, Rumiko was completely oblivious to Rika's feelings, as she hadn't taken her eyes off the, in her opinion, cute sundress.

"I'm not wearing that." Rika stated resolutely leaving no room for argument.

"Rika you at least have to try it on," The red head's mother said with a pout, "Besides," She continued a devious look in her eyes, "I'm sure Naruto-Kun would think that you'll look really beautiful wearing it, isn't that right Naruto-Kun?" Rumiko finished by turning to ask for the whiskered teen's opinion.

Naruto gulped nervously shifting his gaze between Rumiko and Rika; one was giving him an overly sweet smile while the other one was giving him a withering glare that had him sweating slightly. He silently wondered if Kami enjoyed putting him in these sorts of situations where he was damned no matter what he said. "Well, I uh…" He stammered trying to figure out something he could say that wouldn't end with him facing a woman's ire. "I, I should really get going. Don't want to keep Henry waiting to long for our match." Naruto said hastily getting up and quickly making his way towards the door.

"Hold on Naruto-Kun, we'll go with you." Seiko said causing the teen to stop mid-step and turn around to face the elder woman.

"Ah, you don't need to do that Seiko-Obaachan. Besides Rumiko-San just got home and I'm sure you want to spend some time with your daughter." The sapphire eyed boy replied.

"Nonsense you've told us about how you learned martial arts and I would certainly love to see what you can do." Seiko told him and then turned to look toward her granddaughter. "You want to go as well don't you Rika?"

"Whatever," Rika muttered noncommittally looking away. She wouldn't admit it but she was actually quite curious about what Naruto was capable of. To her this was just another opportunity to learn about her mysterious friend.

"And I was the one to suggest it in the first place, so of course I want to go." Rumiko answered with a cheerful smile on her face.

"Well shall we get going, Naruto-Kun?" Seiko asked the blond shinobi.

Seeing that he really didn't have much of a choice Naruto nodded his head in acceptance. "Alright," Naruto said with a sigh, "But I'll have to meet you all there. I need to go home first and get some things for my spar with Henry." Naruto told them, giving them the directions and address to the dojo before leaving.

* * *

A few minutes later the group of four arrived at the dojo, a modest looking building that looked like what a traditional dojo should. Walking inside they found the students there all practicing either by sparing with one another or performing their katas. Soon after they entered the building Henry walked toward them with a smile, though he was a bit confused by what Rika was doing there and who the other two women were, wearing a white training gi with a green belt tied around his waist. Walking behind him was an elder gentleman, most likely the sensei of the dojo, dark greying hair and mustache. He wore a blue long sleeved shirt, similar to the kind of shirt that Tenten was known for wearing, beige colored pants, and black shoes.

"Hi Henry," Naruto said greeting his friend and fellow tamer.

"Hey Naruto," Henry replied before shifting his gaze to the red head that stood beside the whisker marked boy, "Hi Rika." He said somewhat uneasily still not all that comfortable around the amethyst eyed girl. Rika just spared the half-Chinese tamer a glance before looking away as her form of greeting.

"Henry," The blond haired boy began drawing his friend's attention, "Let me introduce you to Rumiko Nonaka and Seiko Hata, Rika's mother and grandmother." Naruto said gesturing to the two women beside them.

"It's nice the meet you both," Henry said bowing slightly too both women, "I'm Henry Wong, a friend of Naruto's from school." The two women greeted him in return before he introduced the man that stood silently behind him. "This is my sensei," He said, as the man stepped forward his hands behind his back a small smile on his face as he gazed at them, his eyes lingering on the blond haired boy for just a second longer trying to determine how capable of a fighter he was.

"Greetings and welcome to my dojo." The man said before focusing his attention solely on the blond haired boy. "I understand you wish to challenge Henry to a spar," He stated more than asked.

"That's right," Naruto answered nodding his head an excited smile spreading across his face.

"Very well then, we will just wait for you to change before getting started. The changing rooms are in the back." Sensei said gesturing toward the back of the dojo getting, a thanks from Naruto before the Cerulean eyed teen left to change into his training clothes. A few minutes later Naruto emerged from the changing rooms wearing a simple orange shirt and black training pants. Making his way toward the mat that Henry was waiting for him to begin their match. Naruto absentmindedly noticed that some of the students of the dojo had stopped whatever it was that they were doing and were now watching him and Henry excitedly. Looking at his fellow tamer Naruto remembered something before a sly smile crept its way across his face.

"Hey Henry," Naruto began, "How about we make this match a little bit more interesting." The blond shinobi suggested.

"What do you mean?" Henry asked him curiously.

If possible Naruto's smirk got even more devious. "A wager," Naruto stated. "Whoever loses has to do one thing the winner says."

"I'm not sure," Henry said uncertainly.

"How about this, we tell Sensei what we will have the loser do, and if he agrees that it's nothing dangerous than we do it." Naruto offered Henry trying to get the half-Chinese tamer to agree with him. Thinking it over for a bit Henry was still a little unsure, Takato had told him about the incident with his clothes that suddenly changed and transformed into an exact replica of Kari's from Digimon Season 2. He didn't know how, but Henry was sure that somehow Naruto was the one that made it all happen, it sure as hell seemed like a prank worthy of his supposed skills as a prankster. Henry would have already refused Naruto's suggestion, for fear of what the blond haired boy would have him do, but the knowledge that Sensei would have to agree to the terms of the bet first at the very least assured Henry that whatever Naruto proposed wouldn't be too bad.

"Alright," Henry said coming to a decision.

"Great," Naruto replied with his usual fox like smile. Having being paying attention to what the two tamers were discussing Sensei stepped forward to listen to each of their conditions. When Henry whispered to Sensei what he planned to have Naruto do, Sensei just nodded his head in acceptance showing that he found that Henry's terms to the wager acceptable. When Naruto told Sensei his idea the elder gentleman's eyes widened for a fraction of a second while his lips twitched upwards slightly, but it happened so quickly that no one noticed it. Nodding his head, his eyes full of mirth, Sensei indicated that he accepted Naruto's wager and the blond boy walked back toward where he was standing before. With the two teens ready to start Sensei moved off to the side to stand by Naruto's guests before signaling for the match to begin.

"Hajime," Sensei said starting the match, and causing the two teens to fall into their respective stances.

The two tamers stared at each other for a second trying to assess the other's skill before Henry started the match by charging at Naruto and throwing a punch aimed for the sapphire eyed boy's midsection. Naruto watched as Henry came closer; the blue haired boy was surprisingly fast, when compared to the people from this world, but to Naruto he was still moving slowly. Stepping to the side Naruto let Henry's punch sail by harmlessly before ducking under his follow up strike. Henry's eyes widened momentarily in surprise and shock, while he was far from being the best fighter in the dojo he was no slouch either, for his blond opponent to evade his attacks so effortlessly was amazing. Not letting his surprise affect him, Henry continued his attack on Naruto. The blond haired shinobi was easily evading his sparring partner's attacks, though just because he was stronger than Henry that didn't mean he wasn't taking this fight seriously. Henry's form was good and his strikes were strong, but his form was also predictable and easy evade.

Watching from the sidelines Sensei was amazed by Naruto's skills, "Incredible." Sensei murmured quietly.

"What is incredible?" Seiko asked Sensei, as she stood next to the man.

"Uzumaki-Kun's style of fighting," Sensei answered her, "When Uzumaki-Kun first took his stance I was concerned because it looked most like what one would expect from a brawler, someone who learns from fighting in the streets, and fighting against Henry and his style would have most likely resulted in Uzumaki-Kun getting hurt in the end."

"But it looks like Naruto-Kun is the one that has the advantage Sensei-San; he's evaded all of Henry's attacks so far." Seiko pointed out looking at the young man that she was growing fond of with a smile.

"And that is exactly what is so incredible," Sensei stated admirably watching the blond teen all but dance around one of his favorite student's strikes. "Ever since Henry threw his first punch Uzumaki-Kun's way of evading is vastly similar to that of the Snake-style of fighting. The style of fighting focuses on the user evading his opponent's attacks creating openings so he or she can counterattack with quick and precision strikes. To learn such a style of fighting usually takes years, to be able to use it to its maximum potential even longer."

"That is rather impressive," Seiko commented, laughing softly as her daughter began to cheer for Naruto quite loudly, "But Naruto-Kun has yet to attack Henry." Seiko noted.

"Yes," Sensei replied having noticed the same thing, "It makes me all the more curious to see what it is that Uzumaki-Kun is capable of." What Sensei didn't tell Seiko was that he had also noticed that the style Naruto was using was also vastly different from what he had seen of the Hebi style before. He could see other styles, some he didn't even recognize, worked into his evasion that flowed perfectly with one another with no sign that they were working against each other, or taxing on Naruto physically.

Rika was staring at her friend's fight in amazement, he had told her before that he knew how to fight, but what she was seeing right now was far from what she first expected. She didn't know how good Naruto was, her knowledge of fighting extending only as far as a few self-defense classes and fighting off the occasional fan-boy, but he made dodging Henry's attacks look so easy and effortless, each move served some purpose that kept him out of the half-Chinese tamer's reach, and even without having thrown a punch yet it was obvious to everyone watching that Naruto was the one in control of the fight. Watching him, Rika couldn't help the strange feeling of pride that she felt for Naruto at that moment, she also found herself unconsciously smiling in his direction.

"He's incredible isn't he?" Rumiko whispered to her daughter curiously.

"Yeah," Rika agreed with an almost dream like sigh, not realizing that she had said that out loud. Rika's eyes widened when she finally realized what it was she said, and more importantly **who** she had said it to, "Wait, what I… uh um?" The redhead stammered her normal cream colored skin growing a shade darker, as she failed to find an excuse for what she said.

Rumiko giggled at her daughter's reaction, this was the first time that she had ever seen her daughter so flustered. And over a boy too!

Henry's was starting to tire, he had a thin sheen of sweat over his skin, and he was becoming just a bit frustrated. It had been at least 15 minutes since Sensei had started the match, and he had yet to even come close to landing even one hit on his opponent. Normally this wouldn't have bothered him all that much, seeing as he didn't approve of fighting in the first place, but after continuously being on the offensive and not being able to land a single hit anyone would start to lose his cool. It was only made worse by the fact that Naruto hadn't even tried to attack, then you could understand Henry's frustration.

After successfully evading another series of punches and kicks from his sparring partner Naruto suddenly grabbed the punch that Henry aimed for his chest shocking nearly everyone, and relieving others who had started to grow bored, with the fact that he had finally done something besides dodge, before pushing the clenched fist back forcefully causing Henry to take a couple of unsteady steps backwards.

"Alright," Naruto began his fox like grin spreading across his face, "Your speed is impressive Henry, and the strength behind your punches and kicks isn't bad either." The sapphire eyed shinobi praised his friend before his grin turned wilder, unnerving Henry slightly, "Now it's my turn to show you what I can do." He said, as he began his attack.

Even though Naruto was literally only a couple feet away from him, Henry swore that the blond teen disappeared for a second before reappearing in front of him, something that a few others would agree with. Henry barely lifted his arms up in time to block the punch that Naruto had aimed for his chest, but grunted from the pain he felt in his arms from where the punch connected. He didn't have much time to dwell on it because he had to duck under a kick from Naruto that came close striking his head. In only a few seconds the pace of the spar had completely changed, Henry who had been on the offensive since the fight began suddenly found himself having to push himself beyond his limits just to keep up with the pace that Naruto was setting. But even as he dodged Naruto's attacks Henry couldn't help but feel amazed by the level of skill his sparring partner was showing.

All those watching were also in a state of awe, with all the people in the dojo now focusing their attention solely on the match between the two teens. Sensei's eyes were sharp analyzing Naruto's movements and taking note of the type of style that Naruto was now using. Like his defense Naruto's offense seemed to consist of different styles of fighting that mixed perfectly together. The blond shinobi was completely dominating the fight leaving no openings for Henry to exploit. With one final combination of strikes Naruto broke through Henry's guard, landing a couple of successful blows to his chest before knocking him off his feet.

"That's it I win." Naruto stated looking down at Henry who was too tired to get back up.

Sensei seemed to agree with him because not even a second later he called the match in Naruto's favor. "Winner Naruto Uzumaki," He declared to the excited cheering of everyone in the dojo. Calmly walking toward his downed opponent Naruto held out his hand for the young teen to take before helping him stand up.

"Good match," Naruto told him a smile spreading across his face.

"Yeah you too," Henry answered with a groan, rubbing the spot where Naruto hit him last soothingly, "Though if it's alright with you I think that I'll put the idea of a rematch off until later, much later." He finished with a wince causing Naruto to chuckle a bit awkwardly. Naruto was saved from having to say anything back when he noticed that Sensei, Rumiko, Seiko, and Rika were coming towards them.

"Excellent work you two," Sensei praised the two teens receiving a thankful smile from Henry and a bashful grin from Naruto. "Especially you Uzumaki-Kun, you did exceptionally well in your spar against Henry."

"Yeah," Henry agreed not at all bothered by his losing, "I could barely keep up with any of your attacks and didn't even come close to landing a hit. When you said you were good I didn't think you meant you were completely unstoppable."

"I'll say," Rumiko commented excitedly, "It was like watching something out of an action movie."

"Congratulations on your win Naruto-Kun." Seiko said to him with a smile. Naruto thanked everyone for their praise before turning to the final member of the group with a questioning look in his eyes, seeing the blonde's attention on her caused Rika to look away momentarily before saying something.

"You did ok, I guess." Rika murmured quietly, but still loud enough for Naruto to hear. A wide grin spread across Naruto's face at Rika's compliment, as unenthusiastic as it might have been, it seemed to make the blond shinobi happier than any of the other compliments he received, something that Rika was inwardly very happy about.

"Thanks." Naruto told her before his grin went from happy to mischievous, as he turned to face Henry, "Now Henry about our little wager." The half-Chinese tamer groaned slightly having hoped that his friend would have forgotten their wager, or at the very least called it off.

"Alright, what is it that I have to do?" Henry asked him anxiously.

If possible Naruto's grin just became more mischievous, as he answered his friend's question. "Nothing much," Naruto began, "Just put on a bit of makeup, tie your hair into pigtails, and introduce yourself to everyone you meet today as Pwincess Pwetty Pants." The blond tamer finished nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulders saying it all as if it was no big deal.

"WHAT?!" Henry shouted in disbelief at what he would have to do, he would only have had the blond buying him lunch for the next week if he had won. He also regretted ever telling the blond about his younger sister and how she loved to play with Terriermon, believing that the small rabbit digimon was a stuffed toy, and how she would refer to him by that name.

"Relax Henry it's just for today," Naruto said to him, "And it's not like you'll be forced to dress like a girl like Takato was."

"So you were responsible for that." Henry said accusingly, as he stared at his friend suspiciously.

"I never said that." The sapphire eyed boy replied innocently. "Besides you agreed to this and Sensei found the stakes of you losing acceptable.

At the blonde's words Henry turned to his Sensei in question, "Sensei?" He asked curiously, when he agreed to a bet against Naruto on who won the match it was on the condition that Sensei would decide if the stakes were acceptable.

"Well," Sensei started coughing lightly into his hand, "While the conditions of Uzumaki-Kun's terms of the wager are a bit embarrassing I do not consider them to be intentionally malicious, and are only supposed to cause you some mild discomfort." He reasoned.

Henry sighed he wanted to argue against the bet, but he had agreed to it when Naruto first proposed it, and he couldn't go back on it now that he lost just because he didn't like the results. Reluctantly the half-Japanese tamer nodded his head in acceptance, "Where would we even get make-up or something to hold my hair up?" He questioned in a last ditch effort to avoid having to go through with it.

"I can help with that!" Rumiko suddenly spoke up excitedly holding up her purse, "I've got everything we could possibly need in here!"

"Great," Henry muttered doing his best to keep the sarcasm out of his voice, if Rumiko heard him she didn't react to it as she pulled him away from any prying eyes and began her work.

A few minutes later the two returned Henry's hair now pulled into two short pigtails, with light mascara under his eyes, and blush on his cheeks. He put his foot down when Rumiko attempted to put lipstick on him. When they finally rejoined the group Naruto was barely restraining himself from outright laughing at his friends appearance, Rika let out a snort of amusement before composing herself, though the smirk on her face made clear to everyone that she found Henry's appearance to be funny, Seiko managed to keep a pleasant smile on her face, while Sensei didn't show any outward reaction to his student's appearance.

"So, what do you think?" Rumiko asked them giddily.

"It's perfect Rumiko-San." Naruto replied struggling to keep himself under control. Turning to face Henry, Naruto gestured toward all the other martial arts students in the dojo, "Well Henry why don't you start introducing yourself." He suggested giving his embarrassed, friend a smirk.

"You know I just might give up the pacifist lifestyle if it means that I get a chance back at you for this." Henry threatened lightly before letting out a sigh resignation and turned to face his fellow students, while silently cursing the grinning blond under his breath, "Hello everyone I am Pri-" He began only to be cut off midsentence.

"Oi I said to introduce yourself as Pwinces Pwetty Pants, with a 'w' instead of an 'r' like your sister says it." Naruto told him, while he subtly pulled his phone out to record what was happening.

Henry didn't even bother trying to stifle the groan that escaped his lips, as he again wished that he had never told Naruto about his sister's habits. "Fine," He groaned before taking a deep breath and slowly let it out, "Hello I'm Pwinces Pwetty Pants." Henry finally said a light blush spreading across his face, as everyone was staring at him in obvious amusement and some were even openly laughing at his misfortune.

"Alright that enough," Sensei said, his voice strained just slightly, quickly silencing many of the students and drawing their attention to him, "Please return to your practice now." All the students immediately listened to their sensei and went back to doing whatever they were doing before Henry and Naruto's match.

"Sensei," Henry spoke up get his Sensei's attention, "I think I'll be going home early today."

"Very well," Sensei replied he wasn't about to force the boy to stay and practice while having to look like he did.

"Thank you." Henry said gratefully.

"Hey Henry," Naruto started moving closer toward his friend, "No hard feeling, right?" He finished somewhat nervously, as he held out his hand for Henry to shake.

Henry stared at the hand held out toward him and then to the blond teen that was looking at him anxiously. He had already decided that he couldn't blame the blond for suggesting the bet when he agreed to it in the end, but that didn't mean he couldn't make sweat at least a little. "Yeah no hard feelings," Henry finally answered taking his friend's hand and shaking it.

"Good." Naruto said relieved.

With a few final farewells Henry left the dojo and started to make his way home having to introduce himself only to a couple of people on his way home. Sadly once he reached his apartment he learned that his father decided to have an impromptu family gathering that day. So he had to introduce himself as Pwincess Pwetty Pants to all his family members incase Naruto somehow found out he didn't carry on with their bet, and he was sure that Naruto would somehow find out. On the other hand Suzie was completely ecstatic with her brother's appearance, and just about demanded that he have tea with her and Terriermon.

Back at the dojo with Henry gone the group of four said their goodbyes to Sensei, after Naruto changed back to his normal clothing and Sensei told him that he was always welcomed to come back so he could train if he wanted. After leaving the dojo the group decided to go out for lunch to a restaurant that Rumiko knew about, and even offered to pay on the pretense that she wanted to get to know Naruto better. Lunch went smoothly for the most part with the only real problems being some of the questions that Rumiko asked the two teens that embarrassed them. When lunch was over Rumiko once more voiced her approval in Rika's choice before they separated and went to their respective homes.

* * *

The following week Naruto was sitting in class barely listening to Ms. Asaji talk when she mentioned something that drew the blonde's attention to her. Apparently someone had been causing trouble in Shinjuku Park after dark. Besides that nothing else seemed all that important with her announcement. It wasn't until school ended for the day that Naruto heard anything else about it when Kazu was talking about it with a few of the other boys in class that included Takato and Kenta.

"Guess what I heard?" Kazu began being the center of attention, "Hah, get this guys, there's some kind of pint sized pyromaniac loose in the park. Wish I'd thought of that."

"How do we know you didn't, Kazu?" Kenta commented jokingly though he knew that his friend wasn't capable of that sort of thing

'_So it's someone who uses fire. Could it be a digimon?'_ Naruto thought to himself already having one suspect on who could be responsible with the mayhem that was being caused in the park at night. Across the classroom some of the girls were also talking about the mysterious happenings going on in the park.

"So you wanna know what I heard? This will really make you mad." A blond girl with her hair in twin pigtails began.

"Really? Tell us." A second girl with short purple hair said.

"Someone," The blond haired girl started, "Is going around picking on couples in the park while they're kissing, can you believe it?" She finished angrily. If that was the case then when she finally convinced Naruto to go on a date with her their moment could be ruined when they went to the park for some alone time.

"Aw, that's terrible." A third girl with short brown hair said.

"It must be a boy." The final girl with dark brown hair and glasses said, as a group all the girls turned to stare angrily at the group of guys

"Yeah, it's a boy all right. Come on." The twin tails said angrily.

"Confess!" The short brown haired girl demanded.

"Don't look at me." Kazu replied slamming his hands down on his desk.

"Confess to what? We haven't done anything, girls never play fair!" Kenta stated upset by the girls' accusation.

Before anything else could be said the scraping of a chair against the floor was heard by everyone in the room, who as one turned toward where the source of the sound came from where they saw Naruto standing up at his desk, his head lowered so his hair covered his eyes from view.

"Ah, of course Uzumaki-Kun couldn't be responsible for these mean tricks." The blond twin tails stated confidently while trying to compliment the blond at the same time, the other three girls doing the same thing.

"You…" Naruto began quietly.

"Huh?" The blond girl asked confused.

"You, all of you," Naruto began again. "I can't stand people who carelessly blame others whenever something goes wrong. You are blaming the boys based on some rumor that you've just heard, and for all you know could be completely wrong. Stop judging people without knowing all the facts. You're the type of people I hate the most." He finished raising his head to glare at the small group of girls. When everyone in the class could see his eyes again they were all surprised by how fierce they looked. Finished saying his piece Naruto grabbed his things and left the room.

The four girls just watched Naruto's retreating form frozen with their mouths hanging open and shocked looks on their faces, as they grew noticeably paler and the blonds final words repeated themselves in each of their minds.

A few minutes later Takato, Henry, and Naruto were outside the school, as Takato told his two friends about his fear that Guilmon was somehow involved with the attacks in the park.

"You think it was Guilmon?" Henry questioned his friend doing his best to ignore the blond who was currently rolling on the ground laughing at the idea, "I don't know Takato he doesn't look like a kid to me."

"There is no way that it can be Guilmon." Naruto stated picking himself up from the ground dusting himself off. "For one they said that whoever did it looks like a kid not a miniature red dinosaur. Secondly Guilmon doesn't have the right mind set to go around at night scaring people. This seems like something a nasty little brat would do as a prank. If people's bread suddenly started to disappear then I would be worried that Guilmon was responsible." The blond shinobi said jokingly at the end, unintentionally an image of Yogi the Bear coming to mind, Guilmon smarter than your average digimon.

"Hey that's right!" Takato stated happily, as he and Henry laughed lightly.

Terriermon suddenly drops down from the tree that they were all standing beside, hanging upside down, "I gotta agree with Naruto. You got to wise up guys, they just think it's a kid cause it's too small to be an adult."

"See nothing to worry about." Naruto said.

"Um, Naruto?" Takato began apprehensively, "What was up with that back in the classroom?" He asked the blond tamer while Henry just stared between them confused.

Naruto let out a sigh, as he stared up at the sky for a second, the girls accusation had resurfaced a few old memories from his life in his old home, "It's nothing Takato, if anything I over exaggerated things a bit. I'll probably have to apologize to them tomorrow." He finished.

"Well if you're sure. It's just you seemed kind of upset." The brunette tamer said.

"Like I said its fine, just some old memories." Naruto told him reassuringly, though he now left the two boys and one digimon curious about what memories could upset the usually cheerful sapphire eyed boy.

"Anyway," Henry started getting the conversation back on topic, "I heard the principal telling the teachers they have to start patrolling the park tonight."

"But that's horrible, they're gonna catch Guilmon this time for sure." The virus tamer said worriedly, as he started to envision all the experiments, and other unspeakable things, that could happen to Guilmon if someone found him.

* * *

Later that night Naruto was jumping through the trees of the park by himself, having called training off for the night. He decided to try and look for the person responsible for scaring the couples that visited the park at night, mostly because he was worried that with the teachers patrolling the park there was a greater chance that they could stumble upon him training with Patamon and Coronamon. He was sure that the Impmon that he meet some time ago had something to do with the attacks, but he had been searching for the last couple of hours and had been unable to find the small purple digimon. He had just decided to give up looking for the night and try again some other time when he noticed Takato walking through the park with Ms. Asaji, with Takato seeming to be thanking the brunette teacher for something.

"I won't let them do it!" Takato suddenly shouted before taking off in the direction of where Naruto knew Guilmon's hideout to be located.

'_He sure has a lot of problems.'_ Naruto thought to himself, as he watched his friend suddenly freak out before shrugging his shoulders and continued making his way home, choosing to let Takato deal with anything that he was worried about on his own.

In another part of the park the small purple virus digimon that Naruto had been looking for was walking through the park after scaring another couple, "Eh, Humans are beginning to bore me, always so predictable, so pathetically... huh?" Impmon was complaining to himself until he noticed he noticed a large black figure in a thin cloud of data. "That's more like it! Someone's bioemerging! Ba boom!" He finished excitedly, as he ran closer to the bioemerging digimon.

The digimon was a large black dragon like creature with four red eyes, and its ears were similar to Guilmon's in design. It had red clawed hands; its feet only had three claws each a dark grey. On its left shoulder it had a grey skull and a red bat like symbol on the back of its left hand, and on its left knee a grey cross. It had torn black wings sprouting out of its back, it had stitching on varies parts of its body, and belts on its arms and tail.

"Hey, you there, four eyes!" Impmon shouted after climbing on top of a small structure that was nearby, "What cha doing huh? Oh, I'm sorry little baby Dramon can't get out of the mean old Digital field." Impmon said mocking the large dragon digimon, "Ha, ha! Guess you're not so tough now, huh? Ha, ha! What do you say to that? Not a thing." The Rookie level virus digimon continued to mock the larger digimon by making hand gestures at it and sticking his tongue out at it. Ignoring the virus dragon digimon's roars and growls Impmon continues to provoke it. "Ooh, I'm so scared. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Big baby Dramon's gonna take Impmon's head off? That's so sweet." Impmon finishes, with his eyes closed by pointing at the trapped digimon unknowingly cutting through the data cloud that held the bioemerged digimon prisoner.

Now free of his prison the black dragon digimon let out a might roar, that instantly caused Impmon to open his eyes and see for himself that the digimon that he was just tormenting could move freely now.

"Come on, I didn't mean it. I'm laughing with ya." Impmon said fretfully suddenly afraid of what the large dragon digimon could do to him. The virus dragon digimon just laughed maliciously, as it slammed one of its hands into the small building that Impmon was standing on causing it to shake, and send Impmon flying off of it. Satisfied that it caused the small annoying digimon some harm the giant virus digimon spread its wings and took off, heading towards the more populated parts of the city. "Uh, this is what's called a tactical error." Impmon commented from where he had landed in the bushes, watching the dragon digimon fly away.

* * *

Back at his apartment Naruto was on his laptop when suddenly a window opened up showing a map of the city with the data signature of a newly bioemerged digimon, called Devidramon, flying through the city. Grabbing everything he would need in order to confront the black dragon digimon, Naruto just called out to his two partners when another screen popped up showing that a second digimon was bioemerging in the opposite direction from where Devidramon was currently located. "What the hell?" Naruto muttered angrily.

"Naruto, what's going on?" Patamon asked his tamer entering the room, as he looked at him confusedly with Coronamon right beside him.

"Two digimon have just bioemerged." The blond shinobi told them.

"Then what are we waiting for, let's go!" Coronamon said impatiently.

"They're far away from each other." Naruto stated.

"So what are we going to do?" The small fire cat digimon questioned his tamer.

Naruto thought it over for a second before coming to a decision, "We'll go after the second digimon. The first is drawing a lot of attention the others will probably find it and take care of it." Naruto decided, as he made his way out of the room.

"But won't the other tamers wonder why we didn't show up?" Patamon enquired causing his tamer to stop mid-step.

"Your right Patamon, and if we tell them about the second digimon they will wonder how we knew about it when they didn't." Naruto rationalized before a solution to the current problem presented itself. Bringing his hands up Naruto performed a single hands seal and called out the name of his favorite jutsu, "Shadow clone Jutsu." The dual digimon tamer said, as three poofs of smoke appeared in the room. The smoke cleared just long enough to reveal three replicas of the blond shinobi, but before either digimon had time to inquire as to why he would make three copies of himself two of the Shadow clones performed another jutsu and were once more covered in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke finally cleared it revealed exact replicas of the two digimon standing beside the only Shadow clone that looked like its creator. "There," Naruto began, "Those three will go after the Devidramon with the others, while we take care of the digimon that is bioemerging." The blond finished opening the window to his room that they could all leave out of.

"What a Devidramon?! Are you sure that we should leave him to the others?!" Coronamon exclaimed in concern for the other tamers and their digimon.

"They'll be fine," Naruto replied confidently a smile on his face, as he watched the Shadow clones jump out the window, "I believe in them." He stated.

Looking at their tamer the two digimon could see how sure he was that the other three tamers could handle the fallen dragon digimon. The two orange furred digimon glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders in unison. If Naruto believed that the others could handle it then they would believe in their friends as well. Nodding at their tamer the two digimon quickly climbed onto his shoulders before he jumped out the window towards where the second digimon's signal was coming from.

* * *

Sitting on top of one of Shinjuku's many buildings Devidramon stared out at the city. "I can have some fun before searching for him," Devidramon said to itself, "Who out there is worthy of me?" The evil dragon digimon questioned, as he searched the city for an opponent. Below him Devidramon sees Guilmon running towards where it was located baring its fangs at the small red dinosaur digimon the larger virus digimon dived downward from its perch on top of the building, and towards the unsuspecting Guilmon.

_Hypnos_

Inside his office in Hypnos Yamaki watched, as one of the digital abominations flew right by his window, "That's enough, this is becoming a personal embarrassment." Yamaki stated closing his lighter and standing up from his chair.

_Outside_

Back outside Takato arrived just in time for Devidramon to fly above both him and Guilmon causing huge gusts of wind to be created. Hastily pulling out his D-arc Takato began to read all available information he could on the flying virus digimon. "Whoa, Devidramon, man he gives the evil eye a whole new meaning. Hm, Champion level, virus type. Ouch! That Crimson Claw attack of his looks nasty." Looking up from his D-arc Takato watches as Devidramon lands in front of him and Guilmon, the two virus digimon start growling at each other.

A short distance away Rika arrived just in time to see Devidramon land in front of the brunette tamer and his red raptor digimon. She began to pull out some cards to enter the fight when Renamon stopped her.

"Not this time." The yellow vixen began getting a confused glance from her tamer, "I can't. This is Guilmon's fight." She stated not taking her eyes off the two growling digimon. Seeing how firm Renamon was in her decision not to interfere Rika groaned slightly in disappointment, that digimon looked really strong too.

"Rika! Where's Takato?" Henry's voice called, as he ran up towards the red head.

"Hm, up there," Rika answered in the same disappointed tone as before.

"Don't sound so sad about it Ri-Chan." Naruto's Shadow clone's voice said coming up behind them, with Patamon look alike on his shoulder and the Coronamon look alike was standing on the ground beside them.

"He's right in the line of fire." Terriermon commented from his perch on Henry's shoulder with a laugh.

"Who would have ever expected it from Takato," Naruto added with a smile.

"You guys aren't helping things," Henry stated disapprovingly, getting a shrug from Naruto for his troubles while Terriermon remained quiet.

* * *

In another part of the city the real Naruto and his digimon were closing in on where the D-arc was showing that the Digital signal was coming from. When they turned a final corner they weren't at all surprised to find a Digital field waiting for them. They were surprised though when that Digital field suddenly dispersed with arcs of lightning moving around where the field once stood. In the center of it all stood alone dog like digimon with small charges electricity dancing around its body.

Most of the digimon was black with red eyes like Devidramon, but unlike Devidramon it was noticeably smaller in comparison, with bits of blue being exposed on its tail, neck and back of the head. It stood on all fours with three toed claws, three black spikes coming out of its back, and yellow teeth like markings running up the side of its body. On its head it wore a black mask of sorts, as it covered most of the digimon's head and looked like it had been torn slightly near the mouth giving the tears the appearance of being fangs. It had a yellow marking shaped diamond on its forehead and two yellow markings going through both of its eyes; a single horn was coming out of its head in the shape of a lightning bolt, the back half yellow while the front half was grey. On its front legs it had red markings and grey ones on its back. Located on its chest was the crest of Friendship in blue. With a mighty roar the digimon caused an electrical surge to occur that shorted out all the electronic equipment that was close by and blowing up some street lamps.

Naruto smirked excitedly, as he pulled out his black and orange digivice, though he already recognized the digimon that stood in front of them. "Raidramon, wow one of the Digidestined's digimon, an Armor level Vaccine type digimon. Its Blue Thunder attack isn't something you want to be on the receiving end of." The blond shinobi said reading off the information provided by the D-arc.

"We can take him." Coronamon stated confidently, as he and Patamon stepped forward.

"No." Naruto intervened moving past his two digimon who were looking at him curiously, "It's been awhile since I've gotten the chance to fight a strong opponent." Naruto stated.

"So you're going to fight him?" Patamon reiterated looking toward his tamer for confirmation.

"Yup," The sapphire eyed boy answered simply, "You two relax while I take care of this."

Grumbling a bit to himself Coronamon crossed his arms over his chest before letting out a reluctant, "Fine."

"Be careful." Patamon said worriedly to his tamer.

Naruto grinned in reply, as he stepped closer to the growling Raidramon. The digimon in question didn't seem to care that its opponent was going to be a simple human by the way it bent its front legs and it lowered its upper body closer to the ground, similar to the way wolfs do before they attack, and snarled at the approaching tamer. At an unsaid signal the two combatants rushed at each other, Naruto pulling out a kunai he had hidden along the way. The first clash saw Naruto's kunai connect with Raidramon's horn sparks flying between them, both trying to gain dominance. With one final push both combatants jumped away from each other, when Raidramon landed on the ground electricity began to surge from the three spikes on its back.

"Blue Thunder," Raidramon roared calling out the name of his attack, as the attack condensed into a ball of lighting over the three spikes Raidramon launched it at Naruto. The blond shinobi only had a few seconds to roll to the side in order to evade the electric attack, and the small explosion that followed after it impacted with the ground. The black armor digimon didn't give the former jinjuriki time to retaliate, as it gathered electricity in its mouth and proceeded to unleash the bolts of lightning towards where Naruto was standing, "Thunderbolt." With no other choice Naruto began to move across their improvised battle field, lit only by the moon above them, dodging blasts of lightning Naruto pulled out another kunai and tossed it, along with the one he had been holding before, at Raidramon as soon as he had an opening.

Growling Raidramon used his horn to deflect the incoming kunai. When it looked back toward where Naruto had previously been standing Raidramon discovered that the blond shinobi was no longer there, but didn't have to wonder for long as a voice from above the digimon instantly told it where Naruto was located, looking up Raidramon watched as the blond red streaked boy fell down towards him a spiraling ball of chakra in his hand.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted thrusting the attack down. Reacting at the last second Raidramon jumped away from where Naruto was falling, letting the Rasengan impact with the ground where it once stood and grind away at the earth. Cursing to himself that his attack had missed, the blond shinobi went through a quick series of hand seals before unleashing his next jutsu, "Wind style: Drilling Air Bullet jutsu!"

Lightning crackled from the three spikes Raidramon's back again as the ball of electricity was formed, "Blue Thunder!" Raidramon shouted unleashing his attack. The two attacks collided in midair and exploded into strong gusts of wind and arcs of lightning.

Shielding his face from the wind and electricity Naruto barely heard the name of Raidramon's next attack over the roaring winds, "Lightning Blade!" From Raidramon's horn a wave of electricity was released in a direct course for where Naruto stood.

'_Oh hell no!'_ Naruto thought his eyes narrowed in annoyance, _'I've already have had to deal will Chidori, there is no way I'm dealing with a Raikiri too.'_ Holding out his left hand the Digital Hazard symbol on the back of his hand started to glow, "Digital Hazard: Data Destruction!" The Lightning Blade connected with Naruto's outstretched hand and started to dissolve into data particles the instant it made contact. When the last of the lightning based attacked disappeared Naruto clenched and unclenched his hand, as he tried to get some feeling back into his numb hand. _'Ok note to self, Data Destruction doesn't keep me from not feeling the effects of an attack.'_ Putting that information in the back of his mind for now, Naruto pulled out another kunai before charging at Raidramon, the Armor level digimon following his example soon after.

The two of them clashed for a second before running past each other. Turning themselves around they again rushed at each other this time when they meet they came to a stalemate again, like when they first collided with one another. Channeling chakra through his body Naruto started to forcefully push the armored digimon back, with one final shove the cerulean eyed boy got Raidramon to backpedal quickly Naruto followed it up with a chakra enhanced kick to the armored digimon's head that sent it flying back.

Flipping itself over in midair Raidramon landed on its feet before rearing its head back, gathering electricity in its mouth, and letting it go in a blast of energy, "Thunderbolt!" Raidramon roared.

Naruto sidestepped the attack and then dashed towards Raidramon at speeds faster than he moved at before. Seeing the quickly approaching sapphire eyed boy Raidramon began firing multiple Thunderbolts at him in an attempt to slow him down, but Naruto dodged around all of them, not once losing his momentum as he quickly reached the slightly panicking digimon. Naruto tried to hit the digimon with a punch, but Raidramon swerved under the punch making it miss by a few inches before trying to bite down on the blonde's outstretched arm, its teeth cackling with electricity.

"Electric Bite," Raidramon said, calling out the name of another one of its attacks before trying to chomp down on the arm.

Naruto didn't panic in the slightest; instead he used his other hand to almost effortlessly push Raidramon's head away. Raidramon's eyes widened in shock the moment he felt his head being pushed away by the blond so easily. The second that the teen's other hand had connected with his head no amount of effort allowed Raidramon to continue toward his designated target, and that really frightened the lightning using digimon. With his arm now safe of being bitten off by the canine like digimon, Naruto pulled it back before thrusting it forward delivering an uppercut to the astonished digimon sending him rocketing skyward. Before Raidramon knew what was happening, it heard Naruto's voice coming from above him.

"Wind style: Great Breakthrough!" Naruto shouted thrusting his hands downward releasing high pressured winds that slammed into the black four legged digimon. The hurricane strong winds smashed Raidramon into the ground where it struggled to even move, looking up it saw Naruto approaching with the same spiraling ball of energy it had seen him with before, with even more effort it tried to move, but the force of the winds had zapped it of most its strength, "Rasengan!" Naruto said, shoving the Rasengan into Raidramon's back. The armor level digimon started to roar in pain as flecks of data started to come off from where the ball of spiraling destruction connected with its body before bursting into data completely.

Wiping a bead of sweat from his brow Naruto made his way toward where his digimon were standing staring at him with looks of admiration. "That was fun," Naruto told them with a grin. "And a good work out too."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, can we go home now?" Coronamon asked his tamer a smile of his own on his face.

"Might as well, as soon as the Shadow clones dispel I'll know what happened with the Devidramon." Naruto answered him with carefree shrug, as they started to make their way home.

"Naruto," Patamon began, flying up and landing on his tamer's head drawing his attention to him, "Why didn't you use Digital Hazard more? Besides destroying one of Raidramon's attacks you didn't use it at all."

"Simple," Naruto started, "For the Digital Hazard to work there has to be data to work with. With Raidramon destroying the Digital field there wasn't any data I could use for Data Creation. I also learned just now that while Data Destruction does destroy an enemy digimon's attack it still needs to make contact with my hand for it to work, and I will probably feel some side effect in this case my hand became slightly numb. If I work at it I can probably improve it so that I won't need to make physical contact. Finally I didn't use the Digital Hazard directly on Raidramon because even though I can scan his digital code its complexity is still more than I can deal with right now, so if I tried to modify it, it could just make things worse for me." Naruto explained.

"Oh," The flying orange digimon murmured in reply.

"Whatever!" Coronamon spoke up cutting into the conversation, "Naruto obviously didn't need it, so let's just go home already." The fire lion digimon finished getting a chuckle out of Naruto.

"Fine, but tonight we are eating ramen." The ex-jinjuriki declared happily getting a slight groan from Coronamon while Patamon just sighed at the twos antics.

* * *

Back with the rest of the tamers things weren't going well for Takato. No matter what he did no matter which card he scanned Devidramon seemed to have the upper hand by the way he was almost effortlessly dealing with Guilmon. The virus tamer watched as Guilmon just barely avoided being hit the fallen dragon's clawed hands when Devidramon flew by the red raptor.

"Pyro Sphere!" Guilmon yelled firing a fireball at the flying digimon, only to helplessly watch his attack to be slashed apart by Devidramon.

"Right," Takato said pulling out more cards from his pocket, silently hoping that one of them would help Guilmon win in the end, "Digi-modify… Power Activate!"

"Pyro Sphere!" Again Guilmon called out the name of his attack this time though it was far stronger than before. Something which Devidramon must have noticed, as this time instead of slashing it apart the black dragon moves its wings in front of it to shield itself from the approaching fireball, before laughing mockingly at the digimon and tamer pair.

"Aw man, that should've worked!" Takato complained lightly before slashing another card through his D-arc. "Digi-modify… Hyper Wing Activate!" Six wings of light sprouted out of the growling Guilmon's back before taking to the sky only to be knocked out of it seconds later by Devidramon, who outmaneuvered the Rookie level digimon and closed the gap between them thanks to its better experience when it comes to flying, slamming its hand into Guilmon ending with the red raptor being lodged into a stone wall.

"No way!" Takato shouted in disbelief, as the panic he had already been feeling from before only became greater. Pulling out one last card he slashed it through his D-arc not even caring what it was at that point. "Digi-Modify… Speed Activate!" Landing on the ground Devidramon reached out to grab Guilmon just as Guilmon picked itself out of the rubble. Seeing Devidramon's hand approaching the red virus digimon used his new found speed to disappear and move out of the way. When he reappeared he was standing behind the large dragon, but Guilmon still wasn't safe as Devidramon's tail hit him the moment he stopped moving.

"Speed is useless here," Rika stated angrily, "Does he have any idea what he's doing? Oh for goodness sake he's his own worst enemy." She complained at Takato's ineptitude.

"He's not even trying to think ahead anymore." The Naruto Shadow clone pointed out with a sigh, "At the rate he is going he is going to get himself and Guilmon killed." The blond shinobi stated before he runs towards the bridge where Takato was standing, Rika following him soon after.

"He's a basket case." Henry muttered to himself before chasing after his friends. As he was leaving Terriermon jumped off from his shoulder, as he looked around and going into a seemingly random direction.

"Had enough? Rookie?" Devidramon asked Guilmon rhetorically, as he crushed the Rookie into the ground by pummeling his fist into the downed digimon.

"No!" Takato shouted while searching his pockets for any card that could help, "Uh, I'm running out of cards." The virus tamer stated desperation starting to seep into his voice. Just then all the tamers reached Takato's location, Terriermon back on Henry's shoulder called out toward the panicking red eyed boy.

"Yo! Hey there! Takatomon! Guess what I just found out? Naruto and I were right Guilmon doesn't have it in him he's not clever enough. He's innocent, well mostly innocent." Terriermon declared confusing Takato, "He was set up by that nasty little puppy kicker Impmon. Now, go tell him you're not mad anymore." He finished in a strangely stern voice for Terriermon.

Naruto looked between the two of them, not quite understanding what Terriermon was talking about, before he realized what Terriermon was implying. Acting quickly the Shadow clone appeared behind Takato and hit him over the head causing the teen to grab his head in pain.

"Ow! What was that for?" Takato asked him somewhat angrily, as he rubbed the spot where he was hit.

"That was for being an idiot!" The Naruto Shadow clone told him crossing its arms over its chest. "I told you that there was no way it could have been Guilmon, but you still blamed him."

"But-" Takato tried to say, but Naruto wasn't letting the brown haired tamer get a word in edge wise.

"No buts!" The Shadow clone cut in, "If you're going to be a Digimon tamer then your going to have to believe in your Digimon partner no matter what. Now go and apologize to Guilmon for being such an idiot." It ordered pointing toward where Guilmon was laying on the ground.

"I was wrong." Takato muttered quietly to himself. He watches as Devidramon's tail went to impale Guilmon, but suddenly splits open into three parts pinning Guilmon against a wall. "You have to get up!" He yelled at his partner.

"I am...trying..." Guilmon barely was able to get out despite the pressure he was feeling against his chest.

"Try harder," Takato ordered him, "I'm sorry Guilmon I should have trusted you like Naruto told me." He continued apologizing to his partner for doubting him and blaming him for the couples being attacked in the park, "Guilmon!" Takato finally shouted.

Watching the interactions between Takato and Guilmon, Naruto notices Calumon floating nearby. Even from where he is standing he can see that the symbol on Calumon's forehead was glowing brightly. Turning his attention to the pair in front of him Naruto was just in time to see Takato's D-arc shine brightly, and Guilmon was glowing, a bright red that soon blinded Devidramon.

DIGIVOLUTION

"Guilmon digivolve to... Growlmon"

From a red egg of data the newly evolved form of Guilmon emerged. He was much bigger than Guilmon, standing at about the same height as Devidramon; for the most part he looked a lot like Guilmon but with spikey white hair and two horns coming out of his head that were tipped black. The Digital Hazard symbol was no longer on his chest, but on his shoulders. He also varies black markings all over its body, and its claws on its hands and feet were tipped black. On its arms were small retractable blades.

"Bull's-eye baby," Takato murmured quietly to himself.

Naruto shook his head and let out a sigh, as he was able to hear what his friend had muttered, _'That seriously better not be his catch phrase or something, because that was lame.'_ The blond shinobi thought.

With a mighty roar up towards the sky Growlmon stepped forward he and Devidramon, who flew backwards to be up in the air, growling at each other challengingly. "Pyro Blaster!" Growlmon yelled calling out the name of his attack, a stronger version of his attack as a Rookie, but Devidramon manages to evade the giant fire blast by flying out of the way. Extending the retractable blade on his arm it glowed, a light blue, "Dragon Slash!" The dinosaur digimon shouted, as he slashed his arm out towards Devidramon only for the fallen black dragon to move out of the way of the attack again. Coming around from behind, Devidramon grabbed Growlmon by his shoulders before lifting him up into the air.

"This is so not good." Takato remarked, as he and the others moved away from the bridge they had all previously been standing on. High up in the air Devidramon released his grip on Growlmon and the red dinosaur digimon began to fall towards the ground.

"Here Takato use this." Naruto said urgently while handing his friend a card from his deck holster. Looking at the card that the blond tamer was handing him Takato noticed it was just another Hyper Wings card. When he went to point that out he was cut off before he could even start by Naruto. "Just use it or Growlmon is going to end up seriously hurt from a fall that high up!" The blond Kyuubi told him.

"Oh right," Takato answered grabbing the card and quickly slashing it through his D-arc, and for the second time that day he called out the name of the card. "Digi-modify… Hyper Wing Activate!"

Falling Growlmon had closed his eyes, as he waited to impact harshly with the ground below him, but before he hit the ground he felt himself become light and then was just floating up in the air. Snapping his eyes open he, momentarily took note of the six pair of wings that once more coming out of his back before he shot himself into the sky strait at Devidramon. The black Champion level digimon was surprised by the fact that Growlmon had shot up towards him so suddenly. Because of his surprise he barely avoided having Growlmon ram into him, but he hadn't noticed that red virus digimon had extended his arm blade for his Dragon Slash attack. Holding its injured side Devidramon growled at the now flying tyrannosaurs sized digimon.

"You'll pay for that." Devidramon snarled its claws starting to glow an eerie blood red, "Crimson Claw!" The dragon digimon roared swiping at Growlmon.

"Dragon Slash," Growlmon countered blocking the red claw attack with his blue arm blade attack.

Streaks of red and blue lighted up the sky as the two Champion level digimon clashed for a while drawing varies onlookers from different parts of the city. The two digimon seemed to be evenly matched, but eventually Devidramon gained the upper hand in their little match, as he started to out maneuver Growlmon while in the air. Dodging another Dragon Slash by flying higher in the air Devidramon hit Growlmon over the head with his tail sending the newly digivolved digimon crashing into the ground, luckily the Hyper Wings slowed down his decent, so when he impacted with the ground it wasn't as hard as it could have been, but was enough to kick up a good amount of dust.

Running towards where Growlmon crashed the tamers witness the large dinosaur digimon rise up out of the dust cloud his eyes glowing a solid bright red.

'_Is that the Digital Hazard? Is it acting up?'_ The Shadow clone thought worriedly. From above Devidramon dives down towards Growlmon.

"Pyro Blaster!" Growlmon shouted shooting strait up at the quickly approaching Devidramon. The power behind this Pyro Blaster exceeding everything that the tamers had witnessed before, as the heat and light coming off it forces them to shield their faces.

'_Damn it! This is insane! Is this the power of the Digital Hazard?'_ The clone wondered, watching as the pillar of pure heat energy rose up and completely consumed Devidramon within it turning the black virus dragon digimon into data.

Absorbing the defeated Devidramon's data Growlmon's eyes once more glow red before it roars up at the night sky.

"Damn," The Naruto Shadow clone whistled in appreciation, "That is some serious power Takato." It commented, "But we should really get out of here now. Who knows how much attention we've drawn," It added, as it turned to leave. "I'll see you guys tomorrow at school." The Shadow clone finished, taking the Coronamon and Patamon clone with it before disappearing around the corner. As soon as it was out of sight from the others, and making sure that there was no one nearby, they all dispelled themselves sending the memories of the evening back to the original.

With the other tamers they watched their cerulean eyed friend suddenly leave. Rika let out a huff of annoyance before turning and walking off the opposite way that the whiskered marked boy had left, not even sparing the other two boys a glance goodbye. She couldn't believe that the blond idiot had just walked away with a goodbye. Where was insistence of walking her home that she had expected, not that she wanted him to walk her home, but that wasn't the point. It was just strange and completely unexpected.

"Renamon," Rika said, calling her digimon to her side, "Was there anything strange with Naruto that you noticed?" She questioned.

Renamon was silent for a moment, as she contemplated her tamer's question before answering. "I didn't give it much thought." The yellow vixen began, "But there did seem to be something different about him tonight," She continued. "The natural presence that he usually gave off was different; it was weaker than what it usually. Almost like a shadow of what it was before." Renamon finished.

"I don't suppose you would know why, do you?" Rika asked her.

"I'm sorry Rika, no." Renamon answered apologetically.

"Its fine," The red head coolly, as she causally dismissed her partner. Renamon disappeared from view, as she went back to following and watching over her tamer from above.

* * *

_Hypnos_

Yamaki snapped his lighter close angrily feeling almost personally insulted. Not only were those digital abominations fighting right outside his office building, as if that wasn't bad enough, he also discovered that the blond brat, Naruto Uzumaki, was involved in all of this. Going around acting as if it was all some sort of game, and to make matters worse Uzumaki had not one but two digimon hanging off of him. He spent hours trying to find anything that would make the boy stand out in the slightest, but everything that came up turned out to be completely normal and now it turns out that the boy was one of those tamers. Someone was seriously messing with him and Yamaki swore that he was going to make them pay for making him look like a fool.

* * *

_The Next Day_

The next day at school Naruto approached a group of four girls, the same girls from yesterday, who were all still completely pale. He let out a sigh before calling out to the girls drawing their attention. "Hey girls," Naruto began, all the girls perking up at the sound of his voice. "I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I overreacted and shouldn't have talked to you all like that, so I'm sorry." The blond haired teen finished bowing slightly to all of them.

"Uh, it's alright Uzumaki-Kun. You were right too. We shouldn't have blamed the boys for just a rumor." The girl with the twin tails hair style began for her and her friends.

"Yeah we're sorry." Another of the girls added.

Naruto gave the small group of girls a wide grin that made them all blush heavily, but before anything else could be said the female voice of another girl cut into the conversation.

"Hey what are you all doing?!" The girl asked angrily, "Stop bothering Uzumaki-Kun! He doesn't have time to waste on any of you!"

"What was that?!" The glasses wearing girl of the group inquired loudly, "I'll have you know that Uzumaki-Kun was enjoying himself until you got here."

"Yeah right," Another girl said, "As if Uzumaki-Kun could possibly enjoy spending his time hanging out with you losers, especially when he has me."

"Like hell!"

"Stay away from my Uzumaki-Kun!"

"You should all stop deluding yourselves. Uzumaki-Kun and I are going to end up together."

More and more girls came and soon the argument broke out into another fight. Naruto watched everything from the sidelines, as the girls argument slowly escalated from insults and name calling into slapping, scratching, and hair pulling. Walking up from behind him was Ms. Asaji, she watched girls fight each other for a moment before letting out a tired sigh.

"How do you keep on getting yourself into these sorts of situations Naruto?" Ms. Asaji asked her blond student.

"It's not like I meant for this to happen." Naruto defended himself, "I was just apologizing to some of the girls from class, because I overreacted to something yesterday. And this just sort of happened." He finished indicating to the free-for-all that was going on.

"You might not mean to, but somehow it always turns out like this." Ms. Asaji pointed out with another sigh, as she went to break up the fighting before things got any worse. _'The school day hasn't even started yet and I already have a headache.'_

* * *

**AN: Alright that is another chapter done I hope you have all enjoyed reading this and sincerely hope you all review to let me know what you thought. Right now I'm working on the next chapter of my Code Geass/ Naruto story and already have about 2 thousand words written, but I'm not sure how long it will take me to finish I'm hoping that I might get it done in time for the New Year. Again I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate, and a Happy New Year. Till next time later.**


	10. Those that Have Fallen

**AN: Okay before anything I want to say a couple of things. I'm a few days late but I want to wish my baby sister, Sol, a Happy Birthday she turned 12 on January 29. I also want to wish my uncle, Hector, a Happy Birthday who couldn't be home to celebrate it because of his job.**

**Now with that out of the way I want say that I'm not too sure about this chapter because it will be the biggest change I've made to the story line without writing a completely original chapter. I do want to make it clear that everything is my original idea.**

**Disclaimer: I do ****NOT**** own Naruto, Digimon, or anything else that may appear in this Fic.**

* * *

Those that Have Fallen

"Talking"  
_'Thinking'_  
**"Megidramon"  
(Author Notes)**

The couple of weeks following the incident with Devidramon were quite ones, well mostly quite. From what Naruto learned the following day, from Henry and Takato, Growlmon had trouble de-digivolving back into Guilmon after his fight ended. Eventually the two tamers were forced to have Growlmon sleep in the flood tunnel, when he couldn't fit in his stone shack in the park for the night, only for Impmon to chase him out later that night. The next day Naruto joined Takato and Henry in their search of the missing red dinosaur and eventually found him in a nearby playground. Afterwards Takato, Henry, and Terriermon tried to paint Growlmon with some paint Takato had from when his parents painted their bakery, with even Coronamon and Patamon choosing to lend a helping hand. Naruto just stood back and watched them paint Growlmon in varies shades of green and brown, choosing not to take part once he noticed that they were using water based paint, and how the sky was quickly darkening with storm clouds. Rika put another hole in the two male tamers' plan when she had Renamon easily point out where Growlmon was hiding, and said any other digimon seriously looking for the red dinosaur could do the same thing, before leaving only sparing Naruto a quick glance as she did. Naruto finally stepped in to do something when everyone was distracted looking up at a rainbow that had appeared after the short rain that fell. Using the Digital Hazard, Naruto removed the excess data that made up Growlmon allowing the virus digimon to return to being Guilmon. Naruto was careful in making sure that if it didn't work than nothing would have happened, and that there would be no undesirable results affecting Guilmon afterwards. Luckily after Guilmon returned to normal everyone figured that the rainbow had something to do with it, how exactly they came to that conclusion Naruto didn't know. Later Naruto made sure to tell Coronamon and Patamon what actually happened.

Naruto let out a sigh, as took a stroll through the city, for most of the day there had been a feeling of foreboding in the air, and it wasn't because of the black vans or goons in suits that had been following him for the last week or so. The blonde shinobi figured that Yamaki, for some reason, had become suspicious of him and was now having him followed in an effort to learn as much about him as possible, and maybe even find out where his digimon partners were. Not that it really mattered to the Nidaime Kyuubi no Kitsune whenever they tried to follow him, he easily lost them after a couple of minutes, but they weren't the only ones that had been following him the last few days. He wasn't sure who or what it was because whenever he got the feeling of being watched it would always disappear before he could locate it. As of right now he had come to three possible explanations 1) Somehow he was being watched by a ninja, 2) He was being watched by a digimon, or 3) He was just being paranoid. Either way it was getting on his nerves, but he had something more important to deal with at the moment he decided, as he focused on the blonde haired man standing in front of him wearing a business suit, shades, and had a lighter in his hand.

"Ah, if it isn't my friend Agent-San," Naruto said with an unassuming smile.

"What do you think you're playing at, Uzumaki?" Yamaki questioned the sapphire eyed tamer seriously; clicking his lighter closed a final time as if to emphasize his seriousness.

"Hm? How do you know my name I'm pretty sure I never gave it to you the last time we met." Naruto said to his blonde counterpart a mocking smile spreading across his face. "What exactly have you been up to since the last time we met Agent-san?" The blonde former jinjuriki asked him rhetorically.

"That is none of your concern Uzumaki." The sunglasses wearing blonde told him seriously.

"You can at least tell me your name Agent-San." Naruto replied coolly.

"Very well, you may call me Yamaki and I'm telling you right now Uzumaki this isn't a game, so stop treating it like one." Yamaki said almost threateningly, as he took a single step towards Naruto.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked feigning ignorance.

Yamaki scowled at the sapphire eyed boy, as he opened and shut his lighter in an attempt to keep his temper under control. "Don't play dumb with me. I saw you and your little friends the other day along with those things. I'm telling you this now if you know what is good for you you'll separate yourselves from those abominations."

"Ara, ara. You're not making much sense Yamaki." The former Konoha shinobi said aloofly, as he moved passed Yamaki calmly before stopping when his back was to his fellow blonde. "Oh by the way, if you don't have your men stop following me I can assure you that I'll do more than just loose them next time." He finished before continuing on his way.

'_Damn that little…"_ Yamaki growled mentally, as he listened to the blonde's footsteps walk away from him, opening and closing his lighter one final time.

* * *

Later that night Rika was in her room going over some of the cards in her deck while her mind was focused on the process of Digivolution, and how the digimon managed to digivolve in the first place. First she thought of the first time Terriermon digivolved, then when Guilmon digivolved, and almost scoffed in disbelief that Guilmon who had little to no battle experience managed to digivolve in the first place, and finally she thought of when Renamon digivolved, when she was fighting Dokugumon, as she set out two cards showing a picture of Renamon and Kyuubimon. Finally her thoughts turned towards Coronamon and Patamon the only digimon in their merry little band that had not digivolved yet. Rika didn't understand it at all besides Renamon those two would have been the ones she expected most likely to digivolve, and yet they hadn't yet. In terms of fighting experience they easily out ranked both Terriermon and Guilmon, and with Naruto as their tamer she couldn't put their inability to digivolve on him. So why, if they were the most qualified, were they the last to digivolve out of all the digimon?

'_I don't get it.'_ Rika thought to herself.

"Rika, Rika dear!" The voice of her grandmother behind her startled the redheaded girl, as she turned her head around to face her grandmother.

"Grandma?" The amethyst eyed tamer said surprised.

"Rika didn't you hear me?" Seiko asked her granddaughter, "I've been calling you for the last 5 minutes. Dinner is ready." She told her.

"Sorry." Rika replied. "I was thinking about something."

"I see." Seiko said with a kind smile on her face, before she looked down at the cards that her granddaughter had placed on the table in her room, and recognized one of the pictures on the cards. "Oh my, is that the Kyuubi?" The elder woman asked her only grandchild.

Looking down toward where her grandmother was staring, Rika noticed she was talking about the Champion form of her digimon before she let out a sigh. "That's Kyuubimon grandma." Rika said correcting her grandmother.

"I can see that dear." The gray-haired woman said, not once losing the smile that was on her face. "But it is based off of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, right?"

"Kyuubi…no Kitsune?" Rika asked confused, "What's that?"

"Really now," Seiko said with a huff of exasperation. "What's the point of sending you to that private school if they don't even teach you about your own culture?" She questioned with a shake of her head before fixing her stare on Rika. "The Kyuubi no Kitsune is an ancient spirit that could level mountains and raise tsunamis with a swing of one of its tails. Now there is some controversy on what exactly the Kyuubi is some call it a demon, others a force of nature, and finally some refer to it, myself included, as a guardian spirit. But what is agreed on is that it is incredibly powerful and that the Kyuubi is the King of all Kitsune, or foxes. Also like all other kitsune it can take human form."

"King of all Foxes," The redheaded tamer murmured quietly to herself, that piece of information got Rika thinking about something that she had been wondering about since the first time that Renamon mentioned it, but what exactly she was thinking about seemed just to impossible to be real. "Grandma," Rika began. "What if it was a digital fox? Would that mean that the Kyuubi would be their king as well?"

"Hm, what do you mean?" Seiko questioned confused.

"Well hypothetically speaking if this digimon." Rika continued, gesturing to the Renamon card on her table. "Were real would that mean that Kyuubi would be her king as well?"

"I don't know dear." Seiko answered honestly, as she took a quick look down at the card. "I would imagine so, but I just can't be too sure." She concluded.

"Oh," The woman's granddaughter whispered, as her mind once more tried to make sense of this new piece of information and what she already knew from before.

Seiko seeing her granddaughter deep in thought once more decided to add in something that she hadn't mentioned before when she had been explaining things about the Kyuubi. "You know Rika." The grandmother started. "Our family has a history with the Kyuubi no Kitsune." She said drawing Rika's attention to her. Once Seiko noticed that she had the amethyst eyed tamer's attention she continued. "It's a story that has been passed down in our family for generations. According to the story the Kyuubi fell in love with one of our ancestors, he admired her for her beauty, her mind, and for her fiery spirit because of how different she was from all the other women around her. After some time observing her from a distance, making sure no harm befell her, Kyuubi finally met her in his human form and the two became fast friends. Over the following couple of years our ancestor also fell in love with Kyuubi and he fell deeper in love with her, eventually he confessed his true identity to her and when she told him that she didn't care about that they married, and a child was born." Seiko paused as she stared fondly at her granddaughter, "The proof that this story is apparently true is a trait that appears in our family every few generations." She finished.

"What trait grandma?" Rika asked curiously.

Seiko's smile grew in warmth, as she answered her granddaughter. "That would be your red hair Rika." She replied while her granddaughter's eyes widened in surprise, "Every few generations someone in our family will be born with red hair. The last time I had seen that hair color in our family was when my grandmother, your great, great grandmother, was alive."

Rika slowly lifted a hand and stroked her hair that was still in a ponytail. She had often wondered where she got her hair color considering that her father had brown hair and her mother had blond hair, even her grandmother had brown hair so that didn't help explain things.

"Of course," Seiko spoke up drawing Rika out of her thoughts. "It is just a story and the explanation behind your red hair could be something completely different. Now come along dinner is getting cold." She told her granddaughter, as she made her way towards the dining room.

Rika sat at the table in her room for a bit longer, as she contemplated everything her grandmother told her, even the story at the end, before following after her. When she stepped out of her room she felt a chill crawl up her spine, before she spun herself around trying to locate the source of the unpleasant feeling only to find nothing there. That hadn't been the first time that she had felt the cold chill, all during the day she had been having similar experiences and it was seriously starting to unnerve her.

* * *

The next night Naruto was jumping from rooftop to rooftop Patamon on his shoulder while Coronamon ran beside him, not too long ago his D-arc had went off signaling that a digimon had just bioemerged. He didn't have to search real hard to find where the D-arc was showing that the digimon was located due to the fact that he just had to look out his window to see one of the city's buildings' being covered in a dome of ice, with its own Aura Borealis thrown in for added affect. What was disconcerting was the amount of power that a digimon would need in order to have that kind of effect on a Digital Field, meaning that it was most likely the strongest digimon the tamers had faced to date. What made it worse, in Naruto's opinion, was the fact that he could sense Rika's chakra signature emanating from inside the dome, but Renamon didn't appear to be anywhere near her. He could also sense Takato and Henry, along with their respective partner quickly approaching the building, but if the digimon was as strong as he believed it to be then they would need help. Before leaving Naruto changed his clothes into something more appropriate in case he would have to step in and help.

Now racing across the rooftops Naruto had his eyes focused solely on ice covered building, but because of his years of training as a shinobi he was able to evade the surprise attack that was aimed for him, pulling Coronamon along with him. Looking toward where he was standing just a second ago he noticed that a few shurikens were now embedded into the rooftop. Looking around Naruto tried to find who was responsible for the failed surprise attack.

"That is far enough Uzumaki!" A voice shouted from the shadows.

A smirk spread across Naruto's face, as his eyes darted around the rooftop trying to locate the source. "So I guess you've finally decided to reveal yourself." Naruto said to his hidden assailant, "I was wondering for how much longer you were going to be following me around like a stalking fan-girl." The blonde Kyuubi taunted.

"Joke all you want." The voice replied with only a hint of anger. "But you won't be getting by me to reach your friends without a fight."

Reacting on instinct Naruto spun around, pulling out a kunai as he went, and blocked the ninjato that was aimed for his back. The two blades caused sparks to fly between the two warriors as they tried to overpower the other. The mystery assailant was finally forced to jump back when Coronamon threw a Corona Flame at him. With some space finally between them Naruto was finally able to take in his attacker's appeareance. The first thing that Naruto thought of when he saw his opponent, which he now knew be to a digimon, was that the digimon sort of reminded him of a radish that had grown arms, legs, orange eyes, and a mouth. Then he noticed the red mask that ninjas in this world were portrayed to wear, mesh armor on its arms and legs, and it wore spiked shoulder pads. Three white belts around both its wrists, red gloves on its hands with the back of the hand having white plating. Red cloth ninja sandals with black socks, and finally a blue sheath on its back for its ninjato finished the digimon's appearance.

"Well," Naruto began. "You obviously know who I am. How about telling me who you are?" The blond shinobi finished questioningly.

"My name is Ninjamon." The now identified Ninjamon answered, as he got into a ready stance, "And I shall be your opponent to see which of us, is the better ninja." Ninjamon declared.

Naruto stared down Ninjamon for a second before speaking to his digimon, "Patamon, Coronamon stay out of this one." Naruto said causing Patamon to fly off his shoulder and stand on his right side while Coronamon stood on his left.

"What?!" Coronamon shouted, looking up at his tamer in disbelief, "Again?!" His tone more of a demand than a question, "You already took on Raidramon last time!" The little fire lion pointed out.

"Don't worry I have a feeling that this won't be the only fight we will be in tonight." Naruto replied calmly never taking his eyes off the digimon that stood across from him. "You and Patamon will need to save your strength for later." He finished.

"Are you sure Naruto?" Patamon asked, once again voicing his worry for his cerulean eyed tamer, "Ninjamon is one of the fastest Champion level digimon in all the Digital World."

"You worry too much Patamon." Naruto told the Rookie digimon with a wide reassuring grin on his face. "Now," The sage stated. "Shall we get started?"

Not even a second later the two trained ninja disappeared in a burst of speed, speeds that Coronamon and Patamon were just barely able to follow, before sparks started appear all over the rooftop at varies spots as the two clashed before separating and repeating the process. Appearing a short distance away from one another Ninjamon pulled some shuriken from somewhere and threw them at Naruto. Naruto easily deflected most of the oncoming shuriken with the kunai in his hand, before grabbing the last two out of the air and hurled them back at their owner, who deflected them with his ninjato. Ninjamon barely lifted his sword in time to block a strike from Naruto's kunai when the tamer appeared in front of the ninja digimon. Pushing Ninjamon's ninjato out of the way, Naruto threw a punch at the Champion level digimon only for Ninjamon to roll out of the way of the strike. Coming out of his roll Ninjamon threw more shurikens at Naruto forcing the blond to jump out of the way this time in order to evade the deadly weapons.

"Let's see how you handle this!" Ninjamon called, forming a single hand seal, "Bunshin no Jutsu!" Multiple clones of Ninjamon appeared beside the original before they all started to run around the whiskered shinobi in attempt to confuse him. Throwing the kunai he had in his hand, Naruto watched it go through one of the Ninjamon clones before it faded out of existence. "You're going to have to do better than that." Ninjamon taunted.

"You know what my name is and that I am a shinobi." Naruto started, as he brought his hands up into a cross hand seal, "But not what I am capable of, Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He shouted, as his own clones appeared beside him, the exact same number as the ones that Ninjamon had remaining.

Before he knew what was happening a Naruto clone had appeared in front of him and in front of every one of his Bunshins. He watched the Shadow clones punch or kick through his Bunshin dispersing all of them. Ninjamon barely had enough time to react when he had to block the punch that was aimed at him, and immediately drew his ninjato slashing the Shadow clone across the chest making it go up in smoke. The ninja digimon wasn't given any time to rest before it was swarmed by Naruto and his remaining Shadow clones, the first one to reach him managed to land a punch that had him staggering backwards, but he was able to bring his ninjato up in time to block another incoming punch with the flat side of his blade. But before he could react a kick to his side sent him flying and forcing Ninjamon to drop his Ninjato, recovering in midair Ninjamon pushed off the ground with a hand and landed back on his feet, pulling a couple of kunai from behind his back once he righted himself.

Ninjamon only had a moment to take note of the fact that he would facing five Shadow clones plus the original making for a total of six opponents before he was swarmed by all the blonde shinobi and his clones. Ninjamon did the best it could to block the kunai strikes that the clones were aiming at it with kunai of his own, but the speed and number of them were slowly overwhelming the Champion level digimon. Naruto's strikes were quick and precise while the shinobi digimon did its best to block or evade the strikes, but sheer number and the speed that they were being sent at him made it nearly impossible, as evident by the cuts that started to appear all over Ninjamon's body whenever one managed to get through his defenses leaving his appearance a far cry from what it was when he first appeared. Seeing that he was quickly losing ground Ninjamon thrust forward aiming for the two closest opponents, receiving a few more slash marks for his trouble, before he thrust his kunai forward instantly dispelling the two clones he was aiming for. Seeing an opening Ninjamon rushed towards it, jumping into the air the ninja spun itself around summoning a giant shuriken from out of nowhere.

"Ninja Knife Throwing!" Ninjamon shouted grunting slightly in pain, what usually required him only using one arm now needed both because of all the damage he had suffered.

The giant shuriken spun towards Naruto and his remaining clones like a buzz saw forcing the cerulean eyed tamer to jump out of the way to avoid the sharp spinning object. Glancing back he watched as the shuriken cut through his remaining Shadow clones. Looking back toward Ninjamon, Naruto watched as the Champion level digimon raced to retrieve his dropped ninjato.

"Let's end this." Ninjamon muttered tiredly, as he held his ninjato in one hand and preformed a single hand sign with his other, "Fire Enbuken!" Suddenly the ninjato's blade turned a bright orange color before bursting into flames.

"Fine with me," Naruto replied holding out his hand and gathering chakra into it, "Rasengan!" He finished, calling out the name of one of his father's signature jutsu.

Dashing at each other the two shinobi met at the center of the rooftop each trying to overpower the other in their clash. Ninjamon glared into Naruto's determined sapphire blue eyes before his own widened in shock and fear when he noticed his ninjato's blade started to crack. Naruto seeing the same thing gave one final push before he completely shattered the blade and slammed the Rasengan into the ninja digimon, but because of power used up in the clash against Ninjamon's Fire Enbuken their wasn't enough power to finish the heavily damaged digimon.

Panting heavily Ninjamon struggled to pick himself up from where he landed. Starring at Naruto and his two digimon that had moved to stand beside him, across from him Ninjamon pulled out a small sphere, something that Naruto faintly recognized as a smoke bomb. "This isn't over Uzumaki! I'll be back!" Ninjamon growled before dropping the sphere, which exploded into a cloud of smoke, when the smoke finally dispersed Ninjamon had disappeared.

Naruto could sense the direction that Ninjamon was running, but he wasn't concerned about chasing after the escaping digimon because he could see that the others hadn't beaten the other digimon due to the fact that the building was still covered in a dome of ice. "Let's go." Naruto said to his two digimon, after picking up the equipment that he used during his fight, it was a bad idea to let dangerous objects just lying around where anyone could find them after all.

"We aren't going after Ninjamon?" Patamon asked curiously.

"No the others need our help and we've wasted enough time." The whiskered teen answered, picking up Patamon and Coronamon, much to the protest of the small lion digimon, before he vanished in a burst of speed in the direction of the ice covered building.

* * *

**(AN: Just to be clear everything to this point is exactly how it was in the show)**

After a tough battle against Icedevimon, a white devil digimon, the tamers thought the battle was finally coming to a close when Takato pulled off a successful combo that allowed Guilmon to smash Icedevimon into the ceiling of the ice dome. The red raptor was about to finish the frozen Champion level digimon when something from the shadows suddenly attacked Guilmon's unprotected back.

"Touch of Evil!" The unknown figure shouted, a black clawed hand with one red tipped finger came out of the darkness, and connected with Guilmon's back causing arcs of black lighting outlined in red to appear, as Guilmon screamed in intense pain before crashing to the ground in front of the others.

"No Guilmon!" Takato shouted worriedly running toward his fallen digimon.

The other two tamers and digimon, while concerned, were more worried about the dark and malicious laughter that filled the area after Guilmon crashed. They couldn't take their eyes off of the black version with tattered wings of the digimon they had just been fighting, and recognized the digimon as Devimon one of the original enemies that the Digidestined faced in the show. It looked down at them with ill-concealed contempt for them in its eyes and a cruel smile on its face, before it turned its attention to the struggling Icedevimon who was desperately trying to free its head from where it was stuck. Lifting its hand Devimon struck the ice beside his white counterpart destroying enough of it so Icedevimon could free himself.

"What have I told you about playing with your pray, brother?" Devimon questioned his voice filled with annoyance and impatience, as he glared angrily at his supposed brother.

"It couldn't be helped I wanted to show my new tamer exactly what I am capable of." Icedevimon replied in an uncaring tone of voice before his focused his gaze down on Rika and smiled sinisterly. "And I will have her." He concluded determinedly.

"So you will continue to insist on sullying yourself with such a repulsing ambition." Devimon muttered distastefully. "Let's just end this I have other commitments that I must be getting to." The fallen angel digimon said, as he and his brother spread their wings wide and prepared to strike at the tamers and their digimon.

The three humans moved back slowly, as best as they could without making it to obvious, with only Terriermon in any condition to fight things weren't looking good for them. Just as Devimon and Icedevimon were about to swoop down an explosion occurred at the top of the dome that drew everyone's attention, and forced the two devils to shield themselves with their wings to avoid the debris that fell. When everything cleared everyone could see a figure standing in a hole, much bigger than the one Renamon made when she arrived, with his features being shadowed by full moon behind him.

The person wore black combat boots, black cargo pants with holsters around his thighs that held kunai and shurikens. Around his waist were two belts that crossed each other to form an "x" with a card holster and black and orange D-arc on each belt. He wore a dark red shirt, a white Anbu vest over it, a green gem necklace, and a Konoha headband around his neck, black fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back, and white Anbu armguards. He had on a dark red long sleeved hooded cloak with black flames licking the bottom half around his shoulders were black armor plating, similar to the type Hashirama and Madara wore. The hood was over his head further shadowing his face his blond hair falling down around it framing it perfectly, three whisker marks on each cheek, and his sapphire blue slit eyes shining brightly, as he stared down fiercely at the two fallen angels before moving further down to his friends.

Everyone looked at the figure for a moment, Devimon and Icedevimon having a better view of him because they were floating in the air so close to him. Finally it was Rika who broke the silence that had fallen over all of them.

"N-Naruto?" She stuttered slightly, being able to recognize his cerulean blue eyes anywhere, not that it meant anything. Before there very eyes Naruto disappeared only to reappear a second later standing in front of the tamers and their downed digimon, and in between them and the two virus level digimon, with both Patamon and Coronamon standing beside him.

"How did you do that?" Takato asked astonished.

"Now is not the time for questions Takato." Naruto replied evenly.

"Ah, Uzumaki I was going to find you after I was done with this situation, and finish the job that foolish Devidramon was supposed to do." Devimon said, as he and Icedevimon landed down across from them.

"You're the second digimon today that has known my name without me giving it." Naruto remarked watching both black and white devils carefully, as he took the hood off his head freeing his blonde hair.

"I wanted to meet you too Uzumaki." Icedevimon spoke up, drawing the blonde's attention to him, "Of course not for the same reasons as my dear brother."

"Oh? And why did you want to meet me?" The whiskered shinobi asked only half-interestedly.

Instead of answering him Icedevimon shifted his attention to the redheaded tamer, making her shiver slightly and take a step back away in fear. "You remember what I told you before, Rika? About your cold frozen heart, your need for perfection in yourself and others, how you see all digimon as stepping stones in order to become the best. I told you the truth, but this boy has been poisoning your heart making you believe that you are not alone and that you can count on others. He's filling you with a sense of warmth that is making you weak making you doubt the person you're supposed to be, cold and heartless, my perfect tamer. The truth is that pathetic digimon by your side isn't the biggest threat that's keeping you from being my tamer. No it's Uzumaki and if I remove him from the equation then there would be absolutely nothing keeping you from becoming my tamer!" Icedevimon finished with a mad cackle.

"Y-you, you would…?" Rika couldn't finish understanding what Icedevimon was trying to imply.

"Your right in saying that I'm the one standing between you becoming Rika's partner," The blonde tamer said resolutely, as he moved to stand right in front of Rika. "Because I would never let a monster like you even come close to her."

"Naruto you can't fight this guy on your own!" Henry argued, "Terriermon, Guilmon, and Kyuubimon couldn't even match up to one of these guys. There is no way that Coronamon and Patamon will be able take on both of them."

"Yeah these guys are dangerous. We have to think of something and work together to beat them." Takato added.

"Patamon and Coronamon won't be fighting these guys on their own. I'll be fighting with them." Naruto said not taking his eyes off the two Champion level virus digimon, as Coronamon and Patamon got ready to fight. "Besides I doubt Icedevimon will be too much of a threat with all the damage he's already suffered." The Nidaime Kyuubi said mockingly.

"Heh, you would think that wouldn't you? But the truth is..." Icedevimon began before stretching his wings out wide causing the icicles that held varies digimon to explode, before absorbing their data and restoring him completely. "I kept those remnants of the past as proof of my accomplishments and for such an occasion like this." He said smugly.

The two male tamers looked at their friend stupefied even after such a display he looked just as determined to fight as before, "Stop kidding around!" "Are you insane? They'll pulverize you!" Henry and Takato shouted simultaneously.

The redheaded tamer shook her head furiously once her mind registered what Naruto had said, "Naruto you idiot!" Rika shouted the worry she felt for him clearly evident in her voice. "This is no time to be making stupid jokes like that. There's no way that you can actually fight these guys on your own."

"There are a lot of things I can do that you all don't know about, Rika." Naruto replied, his back to her and the others. "Fighting these guys is one of them." He continued, as he went through some hand seals, at the last seal he glanced at her over his shoulder. "Trust me and I'll do my best to explain once this is all over." Then he turned back to face Devimon and Icedevimon, "Wind Style: Drilling Air Bullet!" He finished launching a giant bullet of air at the two virus digimon, and drawing silent gasps from the tamers, more so from Takato and Henry as they remembered seeing something like that once before, forcing them to separate from each other in opposite directions in order to avoid the wind attack.

"Patamon, Coronamon you two take care of Devimon." Naruto instructed his digimon, getting a nod from both of them, "I'll deal with Icedevimon." He finished, as the three of them separated and went after their respective opponents.

Seeing his enemy quickly approaching Icedevimon shot one of his arms forward calling out the name of one of his attacks, "Frozen Claw!" He shouted his right arm stretching out farther than it should be able to, his clawed hand' glowing a light blue.

Naruto didn't even slow down a little as he watched arm closing in on him, before he jumped over the clawed hand and landed on Icedevimon's arm, and continued his dash toward the frozen virus digimon landing a kick to his head, which caused the ice digimon to growl in anger.

Focusing his gaze on the blonde bastard that dared hit him, Icedevimon focused his power into his eyes before releasing it, "Tundra Freeze!" Icedevimon yelled firing beams of ice from his eyes that were aimed directly at the sapphire eyed shinobi. At the last second Naruto managed to pull off a Replacement jutsu replacing himself' with some ice debris that fell harmlessly to the ground as a bigger hunk of ice. Scowling at the fact that his target somehow managed to escape his attack, Icedevimon spun himself around, and just managed to block the kick that Naruto had aimed for his back by bringing up both his arms in a cross fashion. The power behind Naruto's kick forced Icedevimon down to one knee, grunting under the strain of the kick Icedevimon pushed back, getting his foot under him gave Icedevimon enough leverage to throw Naruto back and towards the ceiling.

Channeling chakra into his feet Naruto stuck himself to the ice dome's ceiling before going through a quick string of hand seals, finishing by bringing one of his hands close to his mouth, "Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" The whisker marked tamer shouted releasing the giant fireball down at his target. Icedevimon didn't have enough time to react before he was consumed by the intense flames of the jutsu, seconds later Icedevimon flew out of the fire with burn marks all over its body. Canceling the flow of chakra to his feet Naruto fell toward the ground, once he landed the tamer shinobi pulled out a couple of kunai, having one in each hand, and threw them at Icedevimon. Reacting on instinct Icedevimon brought up his hands in a guard position only to yell out in pain a second later when the kunai's sharp metal pierced his skin. Grunting slightly with a deep scowl on his face Icedevimon pulled the kunai out of his arms, before channeling his power through the kunais instantly freezing them and letting them drop to the ground where they shattered into pieces.

Glaring at the shinobi across from him, Icedevimon spread his wings out wide before he started to flap them, "Avalanche Claw!" He exclaimed firing numerous icicles from his wings. Naruto didn't even bat an eye, as he charged at the incoming icicles easily weaving through them all, "Frozen Claw!" The frozen devil shouted once he realized that Naruto was dodging his attack, as he thrust his right arm forward, and it extended aiming to impale the blonde red streaked teen with his claws. Moving just enough to let the clawed hand sail harmlessly over his right shoulder Naruto cocked his fist back before slamming it into Icedevimon's gut, causing the white devil to gasp as the air was forcibly removed from his body, then using the momentum he gained, Naruto jumped up and kicked down on Icedevimon's shoulder forcing him down on his knees. Snarling in frustration Icedevimon spun himself; around and tried to hit Naruto with the back of his wing, but the blonde shinobi had already moved a safe distance away. Landing on the ground Naruto pulled out some shuriken and threw them at the virus type digimon. Icedevimon learning from his previous mistake used his Avalanche Claw attack to knock the shuriken out of the air and send some icicles at Naruto. The former Konoha weaved through the icicles again closing in on his opponent, and aimed a kick at his side only for Icedevimon to block it with his wing. Smiling wickedly at stopping Naruto's kick Icedevimon lashed out with his own kick, but Naruto avoided the kick by blocking it with his arms before using the outstretched leg as leverage to spin around and land a kick on Icedevimon's head.

Icedevimon was momentarily stunned, which Naruto took full advantage of, "Rasengan!" He shouted slamming the spiraling ball of destruction into the frozen Champion level digimon's chest, blasting him away. Naruto allowed a smile to spread across his face as he watched Icedevimon slowly pick himself up wincing from the pain caused by the Rasengan. The smile quickly left his face when he heard a small explosion and turned around just in time to see both Patamon and Coronamon crash beside him.

* * *

When Coronamon and Patamon separated from their tamer they were both very determined, seeing this as the first official time that they would be fighting beside their tamer. They trained hard for hours every day for weeks for this one moment, and they would do their best not to let Naruto down. Starting things off the two Rookie level digimon began by firing their combination attack.

"Boom Bubble!"

"Corona Flame!"

It had taken them a long time to perfect the move, but now when the wind and fire attack came together instead of exploding soon after they made contact the two attacks merged perfectly forming a larger fireball with wisps of wind swirling around it, causing the flames to burn hotter. Devimon brought both his wings forward to act as a shield to block the attack, but the moment the wind-fire attack connected with his black wings it exploded the winds carried the flames passed the tattered wings and hit Devimon although a majority of the power behind the attack was blocked.

Continuing with the attack Coronamon charged forward his fists alight with fire, "Coro Knuckle!" He shouted fists ready to strike.

Devimon wasn't about to let himself be hit again by a Rookie without doing something. "Death Hand," He said coolly extending his arms out and firing a transparent beam of black energy at the cat like digimon.

"Slamming Attack," Patamon said moving in front Devimon's attack and stopping it from reaching Coronamon. Coronamon jumped over Patamon, from experience Coronamon knew that while Patamon could block most attacks, as long as they weren't overly powerful, it didn't last long and by the looks of it Devimon's attack had plenty of power behind it. Coronamon's punch was about to connect, but Devimon canceled his attack and blocked the Vaccine digimon's punch grunting only slightly before closing his hand around Coronamon's.

"Boom Bubble!" Patamon yelled, Devimon looked towards the small Rookie digimon and was shocked to see that instead of the large ball of air that he expected there were numerous balls of air of a smaller size going in his direction, Devimon was forced to let go of Coronamon due to the surprise and the fact that even though they were smaller the Boom Bubbles still had some power behind them. Free the Vaccine lion digimon backed away from the fallen angel and moved to stand besides Patamon a safe distance away.

Recovered from his momentary surprise, Devimon dashed at the two Rookie level digimon, his ability to fly allowing him to move faster. The two orange digimon fired their Boom Bubble and Corona Flame attacks at him, but Devimon just flew out of the way before dive bombing his arms crossed in an "x" fashion. "Touch of Evil," He said darkly his hands turning black as energy radiated off of them. Patamon and Coronamon tried to move out of the way, but Devimon proved to be faster and quickly eliminated the distance between them and delivered duo cross chops to their backs making them both scream out in pain, as black red lightning arced from the point Devimon's hand had connected.

Picking himself up from where he fell, Coronamon charged at Devimon trying to match the Champion level digimon's speed with his own. Patamon also picked himself off the ground and fired some Boom Bubbles at the Virus digimon to help cover Coronamon. Devimon used his wings to block the incoming Boom Bubbles, but that left his back exposed something that Coronamon took full advantage of when he appeared behind him.

"Coro Knuckle!" Coronamon exclaimed, igniting both his fists and proceeded with a barrage of punches instead of the typical one punch, something he developed during his training and learning taijutsu from Naruto. For a finisher the Vaccine lion digimon channeled his fire energy to his left foot before a flame roared to life, something else he managed to develop through Naruto's training, "Coro Kick!" He shouted slamming his foot into the Virus' back, before moving away and regrouping with Patamon. Devimon clenched his teeth in slight pain the fire from Coronamon's attacks burning his back caused, turning his attention to the two Rookie digimon he nearly snarled in anger feeling insulted that a couple Rookies were able to hurt him at all.

"Death Hand!" Devimon roared firing the black energy at them.

Patamon and Coronamon jumped away from fallen angel's Death Hand and succeeded as the energy harmlessly impacted the ground they were standing on, blowing up and causing some debris to be scattered, but not enough to hurt the two orange digimon. But Devimon wasn't aiming for them and only used his attack as a means to distract the two of them for a second while he appeared next to them. Slashing his arm out Devimon struck both digimon, channeling a bit of his dark energy into his arm in order to make the hit stronger, knocking them down close to their blonde tamer.

"Are you two alright?" Naruto asked his two partner digimon, sparring them a glance but keeping his attention focused mostly on the black and white devil digimon in case they tried to attack while Patamon and Coronamon were recovering.

"We're fine." Coronamon grunted, as he slowly picked himself off the ground leveling a glare at the two fallen angels across from them.

"Yeah," Patamon added. "He just caught us by surprise."

Looking at them Naruto could tell that the last attack had hurt them more than they wanted to admit.

Across from them Devimon and Icedevimon were having their own conversation.

"I see that you are having trouble, brother." Devimon commented smugly while starring at his brother's haggard appeareance, though he was quickly recovering.

"Shut up!" Icedevimon replied his voice tinged with anger. "From what I saw you weren't exactly having an easy go of things either, brother." He finished a sneer appearing on his face.

"That was nothing of consequence." Devimon said dismissively, "While I admit that they had caught me by surprise a couple times, and are stronger than I expected for a couple of Rookies, they are nothing that I can't deal with."

"Whatever," The white virus devil digimon grunted. "I'm ready to end this little game with the boy and finally convince Rika to become my tamer." Icedevimon said a deranged smile spreading across his face. Devimon ignored the last comment his brother made still seeing his wanting a tamer a disgrace to them and every digimon like them.

Back with Naruto the blonde shinobi watched as the two Champion' level digimon prepared themselves' to attack the sapphire eyed teen and his digimon again. "Don't worry you two. Rest for now, I'll take care of these two myself." Naruto said focusing all his attention on his two opponents.

"NO!"

Turning around Naruto was surprised that it was Patamon who voiced his disagreement. Out of the two digimon Patamon was always the one to listen to him, go along with what he instructed, be calmer, quitter, and basically be the more level headed of the two.

"We've trained very hard for weeks now in order to become stronger." Patamon continued. "So when the moment came we could fight alongside you Naruto."

"Our tamer," Coronamon began, "Is probably the most powerful human being in the entire planet. As his digimon we couldn't be prouder to have him as our partner, but that also means that Patamon and I need to become stronger so you can depend on us to have your back when you need it, Naruto. We know that you are still way stronger than both of us combined and that you can probably take care of these two losers by yourself, but this is the first time you've actually trusted us to fight with you instead of waiting off on the sidelines, or helping us when we can't win the fight by ourselves." He finished determination shinning in his eyes.

"And that is why." Patamon started up again. "No matter what…"

"We won't let you down!"

"We won't let you down!"

They finished in unison just as the D-arc on Naruto's belt started to shine brightly, the light being strong enough to be seen even through his cloak.

Naruto stared at his two determined digimon with a smile on his face before turning back around to face the virus digimon. "Well if you two feel that strongly about it then I guess there is not much I can do about it, now is there?" He asked them rhetorically. "Your right I do trust the both of you and I know exactly how strong you are, I've been training you after all, so if you still want to fight then get ready because this isn't over yet."

"We're ready." Patamon said confidently.

"Just try and stop us." Coronamon said just as confident.

Naruto nodded his head in acceptance with a fox grin. "Let's go!"

DIGIVOLUTION

"Coronamon digivolve too… Firamon!"

"Patamon digivolve too… Angemon!"

From two orange digi-eggs made of data strands Coronamon and Patamon's Champion forms were revealed. Coronamon looked like a fully matured lion that stood on all fours with the same dark orange fur as before, but with a yellow mane with two tied up bangs and a pair of wings coming out of his back, and yellow claws. He had a type of grey headgear on top of his head with three different flames coming out of it from three red and white pieces, one on his head and one on each side of his head. The red and white buckles were also attached around the ankle of each of its leg and on its back legs, a flame coming out of each one. It's tail a torch of fire.

Patamon looked completely different from his Rookie form. No longer was he the small orange and white furred digimon instead in his place stood an angel with six white wings coming out his back. He wore a white jumpsuit like outfit with multiple grey plates on the top half of its body, golden sun armor on its left shoulder, gold bracelet on its right arm, belts tied on its left hand. On its left pants leg there was a picture of a right golden wing design and black belts on the bottom half of its leg. On its white shoes there was a golden cross on its right and left wing design its left shoe. A long blue cloth hung from the black belt around his waist with golden sun buckle like lion cloth, a blue cloth was also wrapped around its right leg and left arm. You couldn't see the angel digimon's face because of the grey helmet with a cross design on it that covered all of Angemon's head except for his mouth. From the back long blonde hair flowed down past his waist. A golden staff was held in its left hand.

Everyone starred at the two newly digivolved digimon in awe, Naruto had a small proud smile on his face while his hair shadowed his eyes from view. Finally Henry came out of his stupor and pulled out his D-arc in order to scan the new digimon.

"Firamon," He began. "A Beast, Vaccine, Champion level digimon. He's known in the Digital world as the "Lion Flying in the Sky." He protects the artifacts of the Digital world with his Flame Dive, Fire Claw, and Fire Bomb attacks each one devastatingly powerful. With his increased speed and his ability to fly there is no way that those two will be able to escape his claws." Henry finished reading.

Takato was noticeably excited, as he held up his own D-arc and read the information on the angel digimon. "This is so cool an actual Angemon. He's also a Vaccine Champion level digimon like Firamon. His attacks are Hand of Fate, Angel Rod, and another that wasn't even mentioned in the T.V. show called Omni Typhoon. Even though he is an angel when fighting evil he will not stop until his enemy is completely annihilated." The brunette tamer finished with some awe in his voice.

'_He did it.'_ Rika thought, starring at Naruto's back as Firamon and Angemon stood beside him, Firamon on his left and Angemon on his right. _'He made them digivolve, but how?'_ She asked herself still not understanding the process that allowed a digimon to digivolve.

"So who wants to make the first move?" Naruto asked his digimon.

"I think I will." Angemon answered, raising his right fist and gathering energy into it, "Hand of Faith!" He shouted unleashing a blast of light energy at the two devils.

"Death Hand!" Devimon retaliated, countering Angemon's light energy attack with his own dark one. For a moment when the two attacks met they seemed to be just as powerful as the other, but slowly the type advantage Angemon's attack had started to overpower Devimon's Death Hand and pushed it back.

Seeing that Devimon was losing ground Icedevimon launched his own attack in an effort to help his older brother, "Avalanche Claw!" Icedevimon exclaimed firing the icicles from his tattered white wings.

"Not so fast, Fire Bomb!" Firamon roared the flame on his forehead growing bigger before unleashing multiple flame bombs. The flame bombs shot towards the icicles, melting them as they passed, before continuing on towards Icedevimon. The frozen devil seeing the quickly approaching fire attack flew out of the way. His eyes widened in surprise when not a second later Naruto appeared in front of him. Recovering from his surprise Icedevimon slashed at Naruto channeling his ice affinity into his clawed hand.

"Frozen Claw!" He shouted, but Naruto blocked the attack with his armguard before forming a Rasengan in his free hand and slamming it into Icedevimon's chest, which sent him crashing into a wall of the ice dome.

Seeing his brother taken down so easily Devimon canceled his attack and flew up, ending the power struggle with Angemon, he wasn't expecting for Firamon to come down at him from above the moment that he did, "Fire Claw!" The flying lion digimon yelled his claws on fire and aimed at Devimon.

"Touch of Evil!" Devimon snarled, channeling his dark energy into his right hand and blocked Firamon's Fire Claw.

Angemon appeared on the other side of his fallen counterpart and swung his staff, "Angel Rod." He said his staff glowing' a golden color. Seeing the approaching weapon Devimon used his Touch of Evil with his free hand to defend himself, but now he was stuck between the two Champion level digimon struggling to keep both attacks at bay. Eventually the energy flux was too much and an explosion of fire, light, and darkness occurred obscuring Devimon from view, Firamon and Angemon jumping back just before the explosion occurred. From the smoke Devimon fell down to the ground.

Icedevimon slowly struggled to push himself away from where he was imbedded in the wall that last Rasengan having taken a lot out of him. Before the fallen angel knew what was happening golden colored chains started to wrap themselves around his arms, legs, and body trapping him in his place and making it impossible for him to move, taking a closer look he noticed that the chains were made of some type of energy that every once in a while, while solid, looked like they were made of some sort of flame. Following the chains Icedevimon saw that they all led back to Naruto and that the chains were wrapped around his left arm.

"So, what do you think?" Naruto asked the trapped devil. "I recreated this ability after learning about the identity of my mother, these were her signature technique." The shinobi continued before noticing the white clad digimon struggling to escape. "Don't bother trying to free yourself. These chains were made to hold something 100 times bigger and a 100 times stronger than you." The blond tamer stated before forming a Rasengan in his free hand, only this one was bigger than the Rasengans he's made before. "Oodama Rasengan." Naruto said calmly holding the completed jutsu in his hand before dashing at Icedevimon. The Champion level digimon could only scream in pain, as he felt his internal organs being destroyed by the sapphire eyed shinobi's attack, it wasn't long before he burst into data.

With Icedevimon deleted his Digital Field soon disappeared with him.

"Well it looks like things are no longer in my favor." Devimon remarked, standing up from where he crashed, his tone and stance not showing any type of worry or anger he should be feeling at that moment.

Looking over Naruto noticed that the fallen angel digimon was surrounded by Angemon and Firamon, but before he could move over toward his digimon or say anything at all, he had to dodge the giant shuriken that was aimed for him. Taking a closer look at the giant shuriken that was imbedded into the ground Naruto noticed something that he already knew, he had seen a shuriken like that once before today.

"It is time for us to go." Ninjamon said appearing beside Devimon, giving Naruto a quick glare before dropping multiple smoke bombs on the ground obscuring everyone's view of the two digimon. When the smoke finally cleared both digimon, were gone and Naruto found he couldn't track them like he could have before with Ninjamon.

"I might be forced to retreat for now, but know this Naruto Uzumaki our fight is not yet done and I will return." Devimon's voice resonated from all over.

'_That's just great.'_ Naruto thought with a sigh, _'Just a couple of hours and I have two digimon coming after me.'_ He finished walking over to the others, he noticed that Rika had her hands clenched and was looking down towards the ground. "Are you alright Ri-Chan?" The blonde tamer asked her worriedly afraid that something might have happened to her before he had arrived.

"I hate them." Rika replied somberly.

"Well he's gone now." Takato said with a cheerful smile.

"Not him," The redheaded tamer muttered. "I hate digimon, all of them!" She declared.

Naruto watched sadly as his friend left without saying anything else with Kyuubimon leaving soon after going in the opposite direction from her tamer, while Takato tried to get them both to stay. With both females gone Henry turned towards Naruto his curiosity evident in his eyes.

"So are you going to tell us what all that was?" He asked.

"Yeah that was totally awesome." Takato added starring at his friend in awe.

Naruto let out a sigh, as he ran his hand through his hair before answering. "Not right now." The shinobi tamer finally decided. "I will tell you guys everything, but I want to fix this problem with Rika first." He concluded leaning against the building's chain linked fence. Seeing that Naruto wasn't about to change his mind the two tamers relented and said their goodbyes. Now that he was alone, with the exception of his two digimon, the blonde shinobi tried to think of something that he could do to help Rika, but he knew just how stubborn the girl could be. If he was going to help Rika then he would need a bit of help himself he realized, as he pulled out his cell phone and dialing a number.

"_Hello?"_ The voice of Seiko Hata asked from the other side.

"Seiko-Obaachan, it's Naruto I'm calling to let you know I'm planning on kidnapping your granddaughter." Naruto said with a smile spreading across his face, as he started to plan what he was going to do.

* * *

In the pit of the Digital World within a dark castle Devimon kneeled before a figure that sat on his throne.

"My Lord I know that I've failed you, but if you give me a second chance I swear that it will not happen again." The fallen angel digimon said actual fear lacing his voice. The silence that followed greatly unnerved the Virus digimon, as he slowly became jumpy expecting his master to delete him at any moment for failing him.

"Very well," The figure finally spoke. "You have one more opportunity. If you fail me again than I will delete you myself," He threatened before dismissing the cowering Champion level digimon. With a quick thank you Devimon left the chamber.

"My, that was sure strange of you Lord Lucemon." A sensual and seductive female voice said from the shadows of the room. "You let that pathetic little digimon, and the Ninjamon, keep their lives even though they failed their objective."

"On the contrary this is perfect." Lucemon said a screen appearing in front of him, which hung in midair, showing an image of Naruto his eyes fierce and determined as he stared down Devimon and Icedevimon. "They both now feel humiliated by the boy Ninjamon because of how Uzumaki showed him up. Devimon from the humiliation he feels at having his brother beaten by a human. In truth he didn't even care for Icedevimon the only reason he was there in the first place was because I ordered it, but now he will have something to drive him in actively defeating the boy in order to restore whatever sense of honor the fool possess."

"If you say so my Lord," The shadowed figure said disinterestedly before starring at the screen. "I will say this young Uzumaki sure is quite the looker." She remarked licking her lips hungrily, as plans of her own formed inside her head.

* * *

**AN: There done. When I first started to write this chapter I didn't think I'd get past 6k words, but somehow I made it longer than I thought it was going to be and it is most likely because of the fight scenes, so I hope you all enjoyed it. I hope that last bit made you all curious for the next chapter.**

**Please remember to review to let me know what you think and feel free to comment on the last chapter as well.**


	11. Improving Relations

**AN: I'm finally done with this. It took me two more weeks than I had originally thought, but because I can usually only get into what I'm writing during the weekend everything just takes longer. Now that this is done it means that I'll finally be returning to work on my Naruto/Code Geass story which, despite everything, I still hope to have it done around my birthday. I will inform everyone now that it isn't absolutely necessary to read this chapter seeing as nothing overly important happens that can't be assumed beforehand, now on with the show. **

**Though first I almost forgot to mention this, again, did anyone ever notice that the song Rika was listening to in the beginning of episode 10, English Dub of course, is the song Here We Go by Jason Gochin (At least that's who I think sings it).**

**Now we can really get on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do ****NOT**** own Naruto, Digimon, or anything else that may appear in this Fic.**

* * *

Improving Relations

"Talking"  
_'Thinking'_  
**"Megidramon"  
(Author Notes)**

_Last Time_

_Now that he was alone, with the exception of his two Digimon, the blonde shinobi tried to think of something that he could do to help Rika, but he knew just how stubborn the girl could be. If he was going to help Rika then he would need a bit of help himself he realized, as he pulled out his cell phone and dialing a number._

"Hello?"_ The voice of Seiko Hata asked from the other side._

"_Seiko-Obaachan, it's Naruto I'm calling to let you know I'm planning on kidnapping your granddaughter." Naruto said with a smile spreading across his face, as he started to plan what he was going to do._

_Now_

The line was silent for a moment and Naruto started to sweat lightly beginning to think that maybe he had said the wrong thing when Seiko finally said something.

"What do you mean by 'kidnapping' Naruto-Kun?" Seiko asked her voice very sweet, yet with a dangerous tint to it, and Naruto just knew that she was smiling into the receiver waiting for his answer.

"Uh, well I'm planning on taking Ri-Chan out tomorrow and I'm sure she will refuse, so it's kind of like kidnapping." Naruto explained in a hurried voice.

The line went silent again before Seiko replied, her voice now back to normal, "Oh, so you're planning on taking Rika out on a date. Why didn't you just say so Naruto-Kun?" Seiko questioned the blonde teen whose face had started to go red at the word date.

"It's not a date! Ri-Chan and I are just friends; it's just that some things happened tonight that we need to talk about." Naruto insisted, doing his best to ignore his two snickering Digimon.

"Oh my, you two didn't have a fight did you?" Seiko asked concerned.

"No, well at least not with me, but I was keeping something secret from her, and she found out about it tonight, so I doubt she will be too happy with me." The blonde shinobi sighed at the end, leaning against the fence that was on top of the building.

"And I suppose that you won't be telling me what this secret is." Seiko said it more as a statement than a question.

"I'm sorry." Naruto began.

"It's fine." Seiko replied cutting the boy off before he could say anything else. "I understand that teenagers today feel like they need to keep things secret from adults. Just know that if you need someone to talk with to the things you are keeping secret I'm here ready to listen, and of course so is Rika, and most likely my daughter as well. Rumiko was very impressed with you and expects you to come over for dinner the next time she is home."

"Ah, of course," Naruto said rubbing the back of his embarrassed. "And thank you for understanding Seiko-Obaachan."

"You're welcome Naruto-Kun. Now you wanted my help asking Rika out." The one on the other end of the line stated.

"It's not a date." Naruto reiterated with a groan.

"Of course it's not." The way Seiko said it made it clear that she still didn't believe him. "I suppose that if my granddaughter is upset with you than you will need my help. Alright then come by the house at around noon I should have her ready for your date by then." Seiko told him.

At that point Naruto didn't even bother trying to correct the elder woman knowing that she won't listen to what he was trying to say anyway. "Okay," Naruto answered a bit stupefied by the fact that Seiko seemed the one calling the shots now. "But I'm going to need her Digimon cards for what I have planned."

"Very well I'll make sure to get you them, goodnight Naruto-Kun."

"Goodnight Seiko-Obaachan." Naruto replied before hanging up. Looking at his two Digimon they were both smirking in amusement at him, and it was obvious that they both wanted to say something. "Not a word." The cerulean eyed Kyuubi muttered, as he turned around and roof jumped back home with Firamon and Angemon following from the sky.

* * *

_Next Day_

Rika sat in her room the next morning thinking over everything that happened last night from Icedevimon, to Renamon, and finally to Naruto. Rika was confused, not only with her situation with Renamon and what she had said last night, but also with everything that she witnessed Naruto being able to do that let him fight a Champion level Digimon on even grounds even though it looked like he was holding back. While Icedevimon had come close, he never managed to land a devastating blow on Naruto while the blonde had managed to land more than a few on the Virus Digimon and was calm and collected no matter what was thrown at him.

But she also found herself being angry and frustrated, weren't they supposed to be friends the idiot had said it more than enough times to make it obvious that, that is what he thought. So why would he keep something like that secret from her?

Rika was brought out of her thoughts when she heard a knock on her door.

"Rika may I come in?" Seiko asked, her shadowed figure being able to be seen through the paper door.

"Sure Grandma." Rika answered turning around to face the door, as Seiko opened the sliding door while holding something behind her back. Seeing that her grandmother was hiding something behind her back caused Rika to raise an eyebrow in question, as she looked at the elder woman curiously. "What is it Grandma?" She asked referring both to why Seiko came to her room and what she was hiding.

"I was hoping that you would try something on for me." Seiko replied with a small hopeful smile, doing her best to hide the mischief she felt, as her granddaughter let out a little groan. "Now there is no need for that. I promise that this is nothing like the clothes that your mother gets you." Seiko assured the redheaded teen. She had to hide her desire to laugh at Rika's reaction as her granddaughter didn't know that, while Rumiko did wish to see her daughter in some of the frilly dresses, the blonde mother brought most of those dresses home just to mess with her tomboy daughter. "Plus I got these for you myself. I'm sure that they will be to your tastes and I would like to see you wearing them." She added in a pleading tone.

"Fine," Rika finally said with a sigh, as Seiko handed her the clothes she was holding, agreeing solely on the fact that her grandmother had never asked her to wear anything before.

"Good," Seiko stated with a smile as she exited the room and closed the door behind her, "Oh and Rika if you could please come to the front gate after your done changing. We need to get some groceries for tonight's dinner, and I'm going to need some help carrying the food home." The Nonaka grandmother finished saying through the screen door, as she looked at the wrist watch on her hand and noticing that it was almost noon and that Naruto would be arriving at any minute.

"Ok." The amethyst eyed tamer said with another sigh.

Walking toward the front gate Seiko got there just in time to hear a knock on the gate door. Opening it Seiko was greeted by the sight of Naruto wearing a white jacket outlined in orange, dark orange shirt, and dark blue colored jeans. He had on his normal shoes, but only had on a single belt and only a single fingerless glove on his left hand.

"Good morning Naruto-Kun." Seiko greeted the blonde tamer. "My, don't you look nice today." She complimented him.

"Ah, thanks Seiko-Obaachan." Naruto said bashfully rubbing the back of his head. "Is everything ready?" The cerulean eyed shinobi asked the grandmother.

"Rika is getting ready now and should be here soon enough. I was also able to get these out of her waste basket without her looking." Seiko replied handing over Rika's D-arc and Digimon cards to Naruto. "Whatever has Rika upset must be serious if she would throw those away. I have no idea what that device is, but I hardly see my Granddaughter without it in the last few months, and I've seen you with one similar to it, so it must be important to that card game of yours." The grandmother finished.

Naruto was thankful for the older woman's assumption, as he took Rika's D-arc and clipped it to his belt next to his, and put her cards in his coat pocket. "Thanks for the help Seiko-Obaachan." Naruto said thankfully.

"It was trouble at all Naruto-Kun." Seiko replied with a fond smile. "In fact I should be the one thanking you. I don't think I ever told you how grateful I am that Rika met you and that you two became friends; my Granddaughter has changed so much since meeting you." The older woman said. "She is happier, more trusting of others as well I suppose. While she might not be the definition of warm and welcoming to everyone she meets she isn't as cold to others either. I've seen her smiling and laughing more often now than ever before and it's all thanks to you, Naruto-Kun." She finished.

"Ah, you really don't need to thank me Seiko-Obaachan." Naruto said embarrassed.

"On the contrary Naruto-Kun I have every reason to thank you. I know that I can entrust my Granddaughter's future and happiness to you, whether your friendship with her becomes something more in the future or not." Seiko told him honestly as Naruto blushed lightly from her words.

At that moment Rika came to the front gate, not yet noticing that Naruto was there. "Alright Grandma I'm ready to go." The redheaded tamer said to her grandmother before finally taking note of Naruto, "Fishcake? What are you doing here?" Rika asked her voice a bit colder than it usually was when talking to Naruto.

Naruto didn't answer right away as he was too busy taking in Rika's change in clothes. She wore a shirt the same color as her eyes with a white broken heart around her neckline surrounded by chains, as if they were trying to keep the heart together, light colored jeans that came down to few inches below her knees, and she had on a pair of sandals on her feet. She still had her hair in its usual style, but the change of clothes made her look, cuter, prettier, more beautiful, all the above. Naruto wasn't completely sure which one it was.

"Well?" Rika asked again crossing her arms a light blush across her cheeks, as she had noticed Naruto staring unblinkingly at her, and she did the best not to do the same, while Seiko giggled lightly in the background seemingly momentarily forgotten by the two teens. "I'm waiting." She continued impatiently.

"I'm here for you, after last night I thought we could both use a day to relax and just have some fun." Naruto finally replied with a huge grin on his face.

"Well, I can't. Grandma needs my help with something so you can just leave." Rika said dismissively.

"Actually Rika, I can take care of getting the groceries on my own so you can enjoy your day with Naruto-Kun." Seiko cut in.

Rika stared at her grandmother for a second and suddenly got a feeling that she was being setup. "What if I just don't want to go with you?" Rika questioned her fellow tamer challengingly.

Naruto's smile just seemed to spread wider at her question. "That is exactly why I told Seiko-Obaachan last night that I'd be kidnapping you." He told her amusedly.

"What?" Rika deadpanned, glancing at her grandmother and noticing that the older woman was nodding her head confirming what Naruto had just said, resulting in a disbelieving look from the redheaded girl.

Grabbing Rika's hand Naruto proceeded to drag her away from her home, Seiko waving at them as they left with a smile on her face, and proceeded to ignore the her redhead granddaughter's protests to be let go. "Well let's not waste any more time, Ri-Chan. I've got everything planned out, mostly anyways." Naruto said smiling, as his friend dragged her feet on the ground in a futile attempt to stop him.

"Have fun you two, enjoy yourselves!" Seiko called out to them.

* * *

On one of Shinjuku's many streets Henry was walking with Terriermon on his head. Getting strange looks from the people they passed by, as they looked curiously at the boy with what they thought was a stuffed toy on his head.

"People are giving me weird looks, you shouldn't have come." Henry finally said, stopping on a bridge after another couple of people whispered something to each other.

"I had to!" Terriermon insisted, "Suzy would have had me in tights and a tutu by now. It's embarrassing."

Henry wanted to argue that, that was the same situation he was currently in, but everyone on the bridge suddenly gathering on one side drew the tamer and Digimon's attention to the sudden cloud of fog that had appeared. The regular citizens of Shinjuku figured it was just strange weather for the city, but Henry and Terriermon knew what the unnatural occurrence really was.

"Here they come!" Henry murmured apprehensively, starring at the Digital Field.

On Henry's head, Terriermon didn't seem to share any of his tamer's worry, "Digimon!" The rabbit-dog Digimon hybrid commented eagerly.

_Hypnos_

In Hypnos Riley and Tally were quickly working on tracking the wild Digimon that was trying to cross over into the real world.

"I can't seem to secure a tracer lock on the anomaly's data." Tally said typing a few commands on her keyboard.

"We won't make it in time, it's going to Bioemerge." Riley added reading the data that they were receiving on the unknown Digimon, as the chances of them being able to stop it from entering their world were already slim.

Below the two women was Yamaki, starring up at the screen through his shades with his closed lighter in his hand, "Use Yuggoth!" Yamaki ordered angrily. "Stop that thing!"

"It's too late sir, it's already begun." Riley replied immediately, "Full breach estimated in sixty seconds. At this point the application of the Yuggoth program could be extremely dangerous." The dark brown haired woman warned her boss.

"Don't question me!" The blonde haired man shouted, "Circumvent the safety grid and release the program now. That wild one is a ticking time bomb! Apply!" Yamaki ordered once more. The two women had no other choice but to listen to his orders, as they initiated the Yuggoth program, or risk losing their respective jobs.

_With Henry and Terriermon_

On the street Henry was looking down nervously at the car packed road below the bridge, the drivers refusing to move while the Digital Field obstructed their vision.

"I realize how nice the view is from up here, but how long do you think it'll stay this way if we don't check it out?" Terriermon said, urging his partner into action, before jumping off of the blue haired tamer's head and running on the railing towards the bridge's end.

"Hey, Terriermon wait!" Henry shouted chasing after his partner Digimon.

"Come on, Henry!" Terriermon yelled back, only to stop a second later as Henry grabbed one of his failing ears. "Hey that hurt!"

Not letting go of Terriermon's ear Henry said, "We've gotta go home now."

"What?" Terriermon asked not believing what his overly long ears were hearing.

"We're going home." Henry repeated himself, making sure that there was no room for argument. Terriermon of course wasn't a Digimon that gave up so easily.

"Wait a minute, please don't tell me you've changed your mind about Suzy and the tutu cause' I won't do it." Terriermon said as he tried to run toward the Digital Field again, but Henry still hadn't let go of his ear. "Henry, let me go, I wanna see it!"

"Terriermon, how many times do I have to tell you?" Henry asked in an exasperated tone of voice. Before he quickly pulled the rabbit like Digimon to him when he noticed two people walk by them, whispering loudly about the strange sight they were witnessing between Henry and Terriermon. "Will you stop? Why don't we let someone else handle this for a change?"

_Hypnos_

"Confirmed! Yuggoth has fond the wild one." Riley said, as on the monitors that covered the ceiling above them showed Yuggoth closing in on the wild Digimon.

"Make sure that it's completely destroyed, I want nothing left." Yamaki instructed in calmer tone of voice, but made sure that the two women understood that it was still an order. Not even a second later the signal of Digimon that was trying to bioemerge disappeared from the screens.

_With Henry and Terriermon_

Out on the street the Digital Field suddenly disappeared getting a "Whoa" from both Terriermon and Henry as everything suddenly went back to normal like nothing happened.

"Guess someone else handled it." Terriermon said offhandedly.

_Hypnos_

"Termination of wild one is confirmed." Riley said confirming that they managed to keep the unknown Digimon from appearing in the real world.

"Tally, get me an analysis of the impact on the Real World, right away. Plus all the data you've got on the point of termination." Yamaki told the light brown haired woman. "No matter how they play at being living creatures they're nothing more than trash on the internet to me. Ha, ha, ha," The blonde haired man muttered to himself laughing at the end.

"I will...have my..." The voice of the unknown Digimon echoed throughout the room ominously, causing Yamaki to look around for a moment trying to locate where it was coming from, "Revenge!" It declared resolutely before going silent, as a scowl appeared on Yamaki's face.

_With Henry and Terriermon_

"Hey, Henry you never explained why you wouldn't let me fight before, what's up with that?" Terriermon questioned, looking down at his tamer from atop of his head, having left the bridge after the Digital Field disappeared for some unknown reason to Henry and Terriermon.

"Nothing's up, I just don't want you to fight, okay?" Henry replied doing his best to avoid actually answering Terriermon's question.

"Rika was right; you are starting to sound like a broken record." Terriermon commented teasingly.

"Leave her out of this." Henry told his partner Digimon, not wanting to bring the redheaded tamer into this discussion. "It's just that on the Net, Digimon only exist to do battle." The half-Chinese tamer began, trying to explain his reasons to Terriermon.

"So because I'm here now you want me to lie around like a house pet, is that right?" Terriermon said cutting his tamer off.

"Are you gonna let me explain or not?" Henry asked with a tired sigh.

"Henry, you once told me that my very existence in the Real World was wrong, is that still true? Is that how you feel about me?" Terriermon asked sadly, "Cause' if it is I'll sign up for the Ms. Pretty Pants treatment right now. You just say the word." The Vaccine Digimon finished miserably as he jumped off of Henry's head and looked down at the ground.

"Hey, you know that's not what I meant." Henry said putting his hand on top of his partner's head comfortingly, "We're a team." He finished smiling down at Terriermon and getting a smile in return.

* * *

"What are you doing?" A disgruntled Rika asked, she had quit trying to get away from the blonde and just see what he had planned, as she saw Naruto looking at his D-arc for a couple seconds, noting that he also had her D-arc clipped to his belt. She figured that her grandmother most likely got it to him. Of course after last night she couldn't deny the possibility that he somehow got it himself, but that would mean that he was in her room at some point and who knew what else he did while in her room. "Pervert," Rika muttered quietly to herself, as she glared a little more heatedly at the blonde.

"What was that?" Naruto asked, not being able to make out the last thing Rika said, but the redheaded tamer refused to answer so he decided to answer her previous question. "The D-arc was picking up on a Digimon that was bioemerging, but it suddenly stopped. False alarm I guess." Naruto finished shrugging his shoulders thoughtfully as he tried to figure out what could have stopped a Digimon from coming into the real world, but in the end decided to dismiss it as a problem for another time.

Rika let out a slight huff, as she looked off to the side, "So when are we going to get to wherever you're taking me?" She asked him.

"Oh, we are already there." Naruto replied, clipping his D-arc back on to his belt, gesturing to the store that they were standing in front of.

Looking at the sign on the front of the building, Rika recognized it as one of the Digimon card shops she frequented every once in a while. "Last night I said that I hate Digimon and the first thing you do the next day is take me to a card shop." She said incredulously looking at her friend, as he rubbed the back of his head and smiled sheepishly.

"Ah, you noticed that didn't you." Naruto stated more than asked sheepishly.

"Idiot," Rika muttered, as she turned to leave, but before she could even take a step Naruto put a hand on her shoulder keeping her in place.

"They're having a card tournament today." Naruto spoke up with a sly smile, Rika looking back at him with a gleam in her eye at the word tournament, "And I know how competitive Ri-Chan is." The blonde continued. "It's the only reason you enter any of the other tournaments to be the best, even though there was no one there who could give you a challenge, right? At least that's what you told me before." He finished with a shrug of his shoulders. "Plus they have a special prize for the winner of the tournament and whoever the runner-up is." Naruto added at the end.

"Well even if I wanted to it's not like I can, I don't have my cards with me." Rika said remembering how she threw them into her waste basket. Of course she had also thrown her D-arc into that same waste basket and Naruto had it with him, so it was possible that he had her cards too. She was proven right when the shinobi tamer pulled out a deck of cards from his pocket. "How did you get these?" She asked glaring at him, as she took her cards.

"Seiko-Obaachan got them for me. I wanted to make sure you had them with you when we came here, so she helped me out." Naruto explained before a smirk appeared on his face, "So is the beautiful Digimon Queen going to participate, or is she too afraid that she is going to lose to me." Naruto finished challengingly.

Rika did her best not to react to being called beautiful by Naruto instead turning her head away from him. "I'm not afraid of anything." She said while doing her best to conceal the blush that appeared on her face. "Just because you have superpowers, which you still haven't explained but you will, doesn't mean that I'm going to lose to you." Rika stated walking into the building, determined to remind Naruto who was the better card player.

Naruto smiled happy that his plan worked; Rika was just as likely to have refused to take part in the tournament as she was to agree to it. The reason Naruto decided to bring Rika to a Digimon card tournament, despite what she said last night, was because he knew that playing the card game was one of the few things that Rika actually enjoyed, at least from what she told him. Despite how disappointed Rika was in the end with most of her opponents and their lack of an ability to pose a challenge to her.

Following behind the somewhat irritated redhead, Naruto did his best to keep his eyes from wandering lower than they should, but it was really hard for him not to notice how Rika's new jeans accented a certain part of her body. Naruto also noticed how Rika's hips seemed to sway from side to side in her jeans. One thing was for sure Naruto would have to find a way to thank Seiko for getting Rika her new clothes.

An hour and a half later saw Naruto and Rika at the end of the final round to decide the Champion. Things had gone like one would expect with Rika and Naruto easily beating their competition in their respective matches and making it to the final round, with Rika ending up being bored after just two matches, due to the amethyst eyed tamer's natural talent and experience with the card game. Naruto also wasn't being given much of a challenge by the other contestants having played Rika so many times, along with Henry and Takato after school. The half-Chinese tamer was good in his-own right, Takato though still needed more time and experience in learning the ins and outs of the game.

It was currently Rika's turn and she was contemplating what her next move would be. Their match had been going on for the last 20 minutes and Rika had to admit that Naruto had gotten much better since the first time she had played against him, Naruto being able to digivolve his Garurumon into Weregarurumon.

'_But it still isn't enough to beat me.'_ Rika thought with a smirk, as she drew a card and finalized her strategy. "Alright Whiskers are you ready to lose." The way the amethyst eyed tamer said that made it obvious that it wasn't a question.

"Hm, you sound surprisingly confident Ri-Chan." Naruto replied, a smirk spreading across his face when he noticed the fire in Rika's eyes, instead of the self-pity/loathing that she was feeling for herself earlier. She was moving past what happened last night and starting to act like she normally did, the Rika that Naruto would admit, to himself at least, that he was slowly falling for. "I'm the one in the lead after all." The blonde shinobi pointed out.

"Not for long," Rika stated confidently with her own smirk. "I'll start by placing Betamon on the field." The redheaded tamer began placing a card with the picture of a small green skinned Digimon with four talons, blue strips, red eyes, and one large red fin at the top of its body. "Then Digi-modify, Warp Digivolution, De-Digivolution, and Flood." Rika said placing the three cards down.

Naruto already knew what the two cards affects were. Warp Digivolution would allow Rika to digivolve her Betamon to its Ultimate form, while De-Digivolution would turn his Weregarurumon back into his Champion form of Garurumon, in one move Rika had effectively turned things in her favor. The last he wasn't as familiar with, but he was sure that he could guess what it was capable of.

"The Flood Modify card gives Digimon, like Megaseadramon, an advantage over other Digimon." Rika explained the abilities for Naruto's benefit and everyone who was watching the match.

"Not bad," Naruto told her impressed with the three card combo. "But I'm not finished yet; I have my own Modify cards after all." The blonde shinobi said placing his own Modify card down on the field, "Digi-Modify, Metal Attack," The Modify card boosting Garurumon's attack and defense.

"Digi-Modify, Depth Charge." Rika countered, doubling the power of her Megaseadramon's next attack.

Now Naruto was becoming worried about his chances of winning the match, as Rika continued to prove why exactly she was considered to be the best Digimon card player in all of Shinjuku. "Digi-Modify, Plug-in B," Naruto said increasing Garurumon's defense one final time hoping that it would help it survive.

Rika never lost her smirk, in fact it became almost predatory, as she placed one final card down that she was certain would ensure her victory, "Digi-Modify, Power Freeze." The redheaded tamer stated confidently as she activated one final Modify card that Naruto knew would finish him. "For those of you who don't know Power Freeze cancels the affects off all my opponents Modify cards," Rika explained to the gathered crowd. "So there is nothing left but to finish this. I'll have my Megaseadramon attack your Garurumon with his Thunder Javelin deleting your Digimon." She declared ending the match.

"And that's it Ladies and Gentlemen!" The owner of the card shop, a man in his late 30's with short cut black hair and brown eyes, and the host of the tournament announced to the gathered crowd. "Our winner is the one and only Digimon Queen, Rika Nonaka!"

The cheers that followed were immediate as crowd had all been awed by how the two players continually did their best to outdo the other, and gain an advantage, only to be countered at every turn until the very end.

"Now as promised our champion and runner-up will receive a prize," The owner said, as he brought out six cards from behind the counter. "My humble card shop was chosen to give out six rare Digimon cards. Our winner will receive a card from the first set of three cards by choosing Vaccine, Data, or Virus." The card shop owner explained before turning to Rika, "If you would?"

Rika was quite for a second as she thought over her choice before coming to a decision. "I choose the Vaccine." Rika said evenly acting as if winning and receiving her prize wasn't all that important.

"Very well," The owner said before handing Rika one of the cards with the back of the card facing her.

When Rika turned the card over she saw a picture of a female angel Digimon with ten golden wings and green and gold armor, holding a javelin in one hand and a shield with the image of a unicorn in the other. "Ophanimon," Rika said reading the name of the Mega level Digimon that was on the card out loud.

After Rika had gotten her card the store owner turned towards Naruto. "The same applies to you young man, choose which card you'll receive." He said putting away the remaining two cards of the first set and holding the second set in his hand.

Naruto only took a moment to decide, "I'll take the Data one." Naruto stated getting a nod from the owner, as he handed the blonde shinobi the appropriate card.

Turning the card over Naruto saw the image of a red dragon, with white underside and white hair on the top of its serpentine like neck with two sets of horns growing out of the neck's sides. The horn at the tip of its nose formed a crescent near the base before twisting back; a red triangle jewel was located on its forehead. Black zigzagging strips went down the length of the Digimon's body nearly to the tip of its golden spiked tail. It had grey colored dragon wings coming out of its back that looked like they were sharp enough to cut through anything, Naruto figured that the blades that the wings possessed helped with that illusion.

"Dorugreymon," Naruto said reading the name of the Digimon, which he noticed was an Ultimate level Digimon.

"Can I get one final round of applause for our two contestants?" The owner asked, getting another round of cheering from the crowd.

A few minutes later the two tamers were once more walking down the streets of Shinjuku looking for some place to have lunch after leaving the card shop. "So did you have fun?" Naruto eventually asked his companion after a few moments of silence.

Rika didn't answer right away as much as she would hate to admit it she actually did enjoy herself, at least she enjoyed her match against Naruto, plus she got a rare Mega level Angel class Digimon card out of it. "It was fine." She eventually relented, "So what now?" Rika asked him.

"Now we should find someplace to grab something to eat." Naruto replied looking around.

"Yay, food!" A childish voice shouted from above them before a certain white creampuff landed on top of Naruto's head. "Can we get some yummy bread?"

"Calumon?" Naruto asked his eyes going up towards where the In-Training Digimon was lying on his head.

"Yup," Calumon answered cheerfully pushing himself so he was looking down at Naruto from on top of his head with a wide happy smile. "So can we?" He asked again before finally noticing Naruto's female companion, "Rika!" Calumon cheered, jumping off of Naruto's head straight at the redheaded tamer, who took a hesitant step back. "Eskimo kisses." The small white and purple Digimon finished rubbing his nose against amethyst eyed girl's nose.

"Get off of me." Rika demanded, though Calumon didn't seem to be listening as he continued to rub his nose against her nose, all the while giggling gleefully. "That's it." Rika growled, grabbing the white Digimon and pulling him off her face. "What do you want?" She questioned while glaring at him.

"Let's play." Calumon answered joyfully, not at all affected by the red haired girl's glare, before his stomach growled loudly. "But first let's get some yummy bread." He pleaded, his green eyes wide almost begging as he stared at Rika.

Naruto chuckled at the In-Training's antics, "Well I don't know about the bread, but you can join us if you want Calumon." Naruto offered, as the green eyed Digimon escaped from Rika's hold and hovered in the air before landing back on Naruto's head and began to excitedly cheer again, and a huff of annoyance from Rika, sadly before they could begin their search of finding somewhere to eat Naruto's and Rika's D-arc had gone off again signaling that a Digimon had just bioemerged. "Looks like lunch is going to have to wait for now," Naruto muttered looking at his D-arc that was tracking the new Digimon's signature. "Let's go." The blonde shinobi finished, as he grabbed Rika's hand not giving her a choice of whether she wanted to go or not.

* * *

Takato could honestly say that he has had better days than today. It had all started when he accidently let it slip about the existence of real Digimon to Kazu and Kenta, only for them to call him a liar. So he took them to Guilmon's shed where they were promptly scared away before they even had the chance to really meet the red dinosaur Digimon. When Takato eventually meet up with Kazu and Kenta again they didn't believe that what they saw was a real Digimon, and had once more called Takato a liar before leaving him alone. Then not even half an hour later he and Guilmon tracked down a samurai like Digimon with red-orange armor. From the start of the battle things had not been looking good for the brown haired tamer and his Virus type Digimon, as the Digimon, Musyamon, proved to be a strong opponent.

"Digi-Modify… Hyper Wing Activate!" Takato desperately shouted scanning the third card through his D-arc since the fight started.

"Something doesn't feel right." Guilmon murmured panicky, as he struggled to get himself off the ground let alone use the power of the Modify card, jumping back at the last moment to avoid a strike from Musyamon's sword.

"Use the wings like last time, you can do it." Takato instructed Guilmon from the sidelines the worry he felt clearly evident in his voice.

"I'll try." Guilmon replied jumping up and kicking himself off of Musyamon's head only to float around uncontrollably. "I can't stop!" The red raptor shouted to his tamer as he attempted to direct the direction he was going.

"Is that the best you've got?" Musyamon said darkly spotting two humans entering the Digital Field, a small female and a male child the same apparent age as the other human, with a Terriermon on the other boy's shoulder.

Musyamon wasn't the only one who noticed Henry's arrival as Takato also saw his friend show up, "Henry, help me!" The red eyed tamer called out pleadingly, as Musyamon slowly moved toward the new arrivals.

"What now?" Henry whispered quietly, "If I do nothing then we'll all be made into sushi." He continued only to see the Champion level Virus Digimon turn its attention to the little girl, who was a few feet away crying over losing her balloon, "I don't think I could talk us out of this one." The half-Chinese tamer finished fearfully as he watched Musyamon stop a couple of feet away from the little girl.

"Goodbye human." Musyamon muttered raising his sword above his head in preparation to strike down at the girl.

"Wind Style: Wind Palm!" Naruto shouted, appearing between the rouge Digimon and the little girl, the palm of his hand hitting the samurai Digimon on the chest and blasting it back.

"Thank goodness." Henry said letting out a relieved sigh, positive that the blonde tamer could easily deal with Musyamon. But instead of continuing his attack like how the blue haired teen expected Naruto turned to glare at him.

"What are you doing?" Naruto demanded confusing Henry, "Why are you just standing there doing nothing?!" He continued not even bothering to pay any attention to the enemy Digimon, "I told you before that you can't solve everything with words and that there would come a time where you would have to act or innocent people were going to get hurt. You saw how Musyamon wasn't going to listen, so the only choice you had of stopping him was to fight." The blonde shinobi said.

"But…" Henry tried to protest, but his voice trailed off at the end. Henry did remember Naruto telling him something similar to that back when they all had first met. At the time he had seriously considered the blonde's words, but aside from the incident with Gorillamon all those weeks ago, and Icedevimon the other night, Henry hadn't participated in any battles. So he didn't have a reason to think about what Naruto told him and it just slipped from his mind. Now though…

"You no longer have the option of waiting to see if a Digimon will listen. Musyamon didn't hesitate to attack someone, a little girl, who had absolutely nothing to do with this, so you and Terriermon are going to have to fight him and delete him." Naruto told him.

"Us? Why us? It's not like you're not strong enough fight him yourself." Henry pointed out, though Terriermon had already jumped off his perch on Henry's shoulder and was facing the recovering samurai Digimon, prepared to take the Virus on.

"I'm not here to fight your battles for you. You're going to have to do this on your own." Naruto declared determinedly, not giving Henry much of a choice, as he turned his attention to the little girl.

While Naruto was talking with Henry, Rika had stayed back at the edge of the Digital Field away from the action so she didn't get involved, but her eyes kept shifting around trying to see if Renamon was there somewhere. Calumon in the meantime had jumped off of Naruto's head and floated up to retrieve the balloon and brought it down to the little girl, not liking the fact that she was crying and realizing that it was because she lost her balloon. The little girl stared at the small Digimon that held her balloon out to her in surprise, a few tears in the corner of her eyes, before smiling brightly at the Digimon and taking the balloon letting a few giggles as she did so, which made Calumon happy as well.

Naruto watched the scene with a smile on his face before kneeling down in front of the girl. "Hi there," He said softly. "My name is Naruto, and this is my friend Calumon. What's your name?" The blue eyed tamer asked.

"Yumi," The little girl replied shyly.

"Well Yumi, how about I take you back to your mom or dad?" Naruto asked, getting a nod from the brown haired girl. "Ok, but how about I take care of this first." He continued tying Yumi's balloon string around her wrist. "There now it can't get away again. Now let's get you back. I'll leave the rest to you guys!" Naruto finished calling back to other male tamers, as he grabbed the little girl's hand and walked back toward Rika, while waving back at Henry and Takato over his shoulder.

"Wait you're just going to leave us on our own?!" Takato questioned.

"Yup," Naruto replied unconcernedly, Calumon back on his head, as he reached Rika and they began to exit the Digital Field. "I sure you guys can handle it."

"They're going to get themselves killed." Rika muttered quietly, making sure that the cheerfully humming Yumi didn't hear her, a light blush appearing on her cheeks as Yumi grabbed her hand linking the three of them together. Rika didn't even want to start imagining what they would look like if someone saw them at that moment.

"Ah, I'm sure that they'll do fine." Naruto replied waving his free hand dismissively.

Henry watched the couple walk away, absentmindedly wondering if the two were out on a date, before turning his attention back to Musyamon, who had finally got back on its feet after Naruto's surprise attack. He realized that Naruto was right his hesitance almost ended with an innocent girl being hurt, or worse, and from the emotions Henry could get off of Musyamon the Virus Digimon regret wasn't one of them.

"We have to stop him." Henry said finally coming to a decision, as he pulled out his D-arc and grabbed a card.

"Well it's about time." Terriermon said happy that his tamer was finally willing to let him fight and not just sit on the sidelines.

"Digi-Modify… Hyper Sonic Activate!" Henry said slashing the card through his D-arc. Terriermon, who was running toward the charging enemy Digimon, went for a head-butt to Musyamon's torso only for the samurai to sidestep it. Spinning around Terriermon fired a quick Bunny Blast that hit Musyamon in the side.

DIGIVOLUTION

"Terriermon Digivolve to… Gargomon!"

From the green Digi-egg Terriermon's Champion level form emerged and started to fire at Musyamon with his Gatling gun arms. Musyamon did its best to deflect all the incoming Gargo Laser before jumping into the air sword raised high.

Gargomon rushed the Virus Digimon, hitting Musyamon with an uppercut to its chin while firing his green bullets, "Gargo Laser!" The Champion level rabbit Digimon shouted, the energy bullets powering up Gargomon's punch causing Musyamon to hit the ground hard before bursting into data and being absorbed by the trigger happy bunny.

With Musyamon defeated the tamers and their Digimon decided that it was best to leave before anyone saw them.

"Hey was it just me or did it look like Naruto and Rika were on a date?" Takato asked the others.

"Sure looked that way to me." Henry answered.

"Come on guys of course their dating it's obvious that they are crazy about each other." Gargomon said in a cheerful mood.

"What's 'dating' is that some type of bread?" Guilmon asked naïvely as Takato let out a light groan at his Digimon's cluelessness.

Though in their rush to leave the area they didn't notice a certain shades wearing blonde in the crowd.

* * *

After leaving Henry and the others to deal with Musyamon, Naruto and Rika decided to go to the burger joint they had visited last time. The two tamers sat in relatively comfortable silence as they enjoyed their food, Calumon sitting on the table happily eating his fries, neither paying much attention to the other people in the restaurant.

"Do you really think those four will be able to handle themselves?" Rika finally asked her blonde companion, taking a sip of her drink, "Because I don't." She stated evenly.

"They'll do fine. You and Coronamon need to have more faith in them, they're not completely incompetent." Naruto replied offhandedly, "Now are you going to tell me how you're doing after last night." The seriousness that appeared in his voice made it clear that it wasn't really a question.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Rika muttered looking off to the side.

"I'm talking about that 'I hate Digimon, all of them' thing you said last night. Not to mention having to deal with the frozen freak." Naruto said, "I'm your best friend Ri-Chan you can talk to me about this stuff."

"There's nothing to talk about." The redheaded tamer said, "Besides what kind of best friend keeps the fact that he has superpowers to himself." Rika said accusingly giving him a light glare.

Naruto just chuckled, not at all bothered by her glare. "We all have secrets Ri-Chan, even from our closest friends; after all I know that there is something that you've never talked to me about." The sapphire eyed shinobi said, Rika looked away again as she had a good idea of what he was talking about, "I promise to explain everything soon Ri-Chan, but first we have to fix things between you and Renamon."

"Like I said there is nothing to talk about and nothing to fix." Rika answered, taking another sip of her drink, before continuing. "Renamon was just using me to get stronger so that she could digivolve. She never cared about me, not really." She finished a hint of sadness entering her voice.

Naruto closed his eyes for a moment and then let out a sigh before opening his eyes and looked right at her, "You don't really believe that, do you?" He questioned her with a raised eyebrow. "I remember that you were just as determined to make her strong as she was."

"That doesn't matter now. Renamon is strong now and no longer needs me." Rika said coolly.

"Are you really that stupid?" Naruto asked her bluntly surprising Rika and causing her eyes to widen. "Why was Renamon able to digivolve in the first place?"

"Huh?" Rika asked still caught off guard.

"Back when you and Renamon battled Dokugumon, Renamon was only able to digivolve because you showed that you cared for like a true friend and partner would." Naruto began, "Renamon digivolved so that she could protect you. Because she cares about you just like you care about her. That's why she digivolved again last night in the fight against the frozen freak, Icedevimon." He said staring at her intently.

"You're starting to sound real corny Whiskers." Rika told him.

"Maybe," Naruto admitted with a slight chuckle. Their discussion was cut short when Naruto's and Rika's D-arcs once more signaled that another Digimon had just bioemerged. "I guess we should check it out." The blonde shinobi said grabbing his D-arc.

The redhead tamer across from him let out a groan at his announcement, "Wasn't the whole point of this was to give me a break from everything Digimon related?" Rika asked him.

"Come on, you can't tell me you aren't at least curious to see what's going on." Naruto replied, with a grin spreading across his face, standing up with Rika mirroring his actions despite a few grumbled protests, and Calumon landing happily on Naruto's head after finishing his fries.

* * *

Arriving at the baseball field where their D-arcs had taken them, Naruto and Rika stood just outside of the fence that contained the Digital Field within. Focusing on the signatures within Naruto could sense more than one unknown Digimon inside of the Field along with Renamon, which he made sure to let Rika know about.

Rika didn't say anything to the news, the redheaded tamer felt herself' being torn about what to do, a part of her wanted to enter the Digital Field and help Renamon. Another part of her though insisted that Renamon didn't need her anymore, despite everything that Naruto had said to her earlier.

Naruto could see the indecision and sadness in Rika's eyes and let out a mental sigh. He already knew that Rika was concerned for Renamon the only reason that she wouldn't admit it was because sometimes she was to stubborn for her own good. Then again her stubbornness was one of the things Naruto liked most about her. Turning his attention back to the Digital Field, Naruto focused on sensing the fight that was happening inside.

Inside the Digital Field, Renamon faced off against the small group of three Digimon that all looked the same. She identified them all as Flybeemon, red and black Armor level Data type wasp like Digimon. The three insect Digimon surrounded Renamon before two of them charged at her one from the front and the other from behind. Spinning around Renamon knocked away the Flybeemon that was charging at her from the front with her tail, focusing instead on the other one.

"Power Paw!" Renamon said her two paws igniting in their ghostly blue flame. In a burst of speed she appeared in front of Flybeemon before punching at the red wasp Digimon's torso repeatedly, pale blue streaks of light following after every punch from the flames that covered her fist. Finally the yellow vixen slashed at the stunned Flybeemon her claws digging into its chest until the Digimon burst into red specs of data. "Easy," Renamon stated confidently.

Due to her overconfidence from her easy victory Renamon dropped her guard for a moment, allowing the third Flybeemon to catch her by surprise and hit her with its stinger in the leg.

"Damn," Renamon muttered, reproaching herself for making such an amateurish mistake, as she pulled out the stinger, she could already feel the poison start to spread. It wasn't anything serious as Flybeemon didn't produce any really dangerous poisons like some of the other insect Digimon, but it was enough to be a bother. She briefly wondered where Rika was, and then came to the conclusion that her redheaded tamer wouldn't be showing up to help, not after last night.

Taking advantage of Renamon's weakened state the two remaining Flybeemon crossed their arms over their chests, their wings cackling with electricity. "Lightning Sting!" They shouted in unison firing bolts of electricity at the digital kitsune. Renamon did her best to dodge, but after a couple of failed strikes the wound to her leg made her falter which caused her to be hit by the lightning.

Outside the Digital Field Naruto voiced the latest happenings to his companion. "Renamon's been hit, she's on the ground." Naruto informed Rika, but the most she reacted to the news was a tightening of her fists.

At that moment Henry appeared, with Terriermon back to his Rookie level and riding on his shoulder. Noticing the presence of the other two tamers caused Henry to stop by the chain linked fence and stare at them curiously. "Naruto, Rika? What are you two doing out here?" The short blue haired boy asked them confused. "Where are Coronamon, Patamon, and Renamon?" Henry asked after looking around, and not spotting either of the blonde and redhead's partner Digimon. Staring harder into the Digital Field Henry was just able to make something yellow struggling to pick itself up off the ground, before his mind finally registered what it was, or more exactly who it was. "Rika, Renamon needs you." Henry said urgently while stating the obvious at the same time, something that Naruto chose not to point out.

"Looks like Renamon just got her second wind." Naruto said just loud enough for everyone to hear, not moving his eyes from the digital fog for an instant.

Back inside the Digital Field Renamon's eyes suddenly snapped open and she jumped back onto her feet. The two Flybeemon launched their stingers at the fox Digimon only to miss when Renamon jumped out of the way of the two stingers. Then she dashed by them going higher in the air before turning herself around to face to two red insect Digimon beneath her and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Diamond Storm!" Renamon shouted the shards appearing around her. Uncrossing her arms unleashed the barrage raining down at the Flybeemon from above, and covering every inch of their bodies with the white shards and causing them to turn into data, which she proceeded to absorb.

"Well that's the end of that." Naruto stated before turning his attention toward Rika. "What now?" He asked her wanting to know what Rika would do now that there was the chance that she could be face to face with Renamon.

"Let's go." Rika muttered somewhat sadly, turning around and walking away causing Naruto let out another sigh and started walking after her, Calumon following them.

"Naruto!" Henry called out making Naruto stop and look at him curiously. "I understand what you were trying to say to me before and you were right. As much as I want to avoid having to make Terriermon fight, and find a peaceful solution instead, that won't always be an option and I've accepted it." He stated, looking down at the ground for a moment before looking back at Naruto. "I can't help but think what I would have done if it had been Suzie that was in danger. Would I have just stood there and done nothing because I couldn't convince the Digimon to stop?" The half-Chinese tamer asked himself more than anyone else, while Terriermon looked at him in concern. "I finally get what you were saying about fighting to protect, because if it meant keeping my family safe I'd be willing to fight any Digimon myself if I had to. So thank you." Henry finished with a small smile.

"No problem I'm glad that you finally understand." Naruto replied, "I'll see ya later, I need to catch up with Rika." The blonde shinobi told him, as he picked up his pace to catch up with the redhead.

* * *

A few minutes later Naruto was walking beside Rika again right outside the park without any particular destination in mind. Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but before he could even begin to form a sentence Rika cut him off.

"Just drop it." Rika murmured quietly.

"Why are you so stubborn?" Naruto asked with a frustrated sigh, "Just say you're sorry or something." The whisker marked teen told her.

"What's the point?" Rika retorted.

"The point is that Renamon needs her tamer. She needs her partner." He insisted.

"According to what you said back there that isn't true." Rika pointed out, "Renamon did just fine on her own. She doesn't need me anymore." The amethyst eyed girl finished, doing her best to keep her voice even and uncaring.

"Renamon is strong." Naruto admitted with a nod of his head. "But that doesn't mean that she'll be able to do everything on her own, and when she can't she is going to need you to be there." The Nidaime Kyuubi said softly, as Rika stayed quite. Seeing how the atmosphere was starting become somber from their discussion Naruto decided a change in topics was necessary. "Well enough of that we're supposed to be having fun and enjoying ourselves. Now let's see…" Naruto murmured before spotting an arcade nearby. "That looks like a good place." He stated as he started to lead Rika to the arcade.

"What are you doing?" Rika asked him rhetorically. "I don't like playing video games Fishcake."

"That's fine; I just want to get you something to cheer you up." Naruto told her looking around before spotting a crane game filled with stuffed toys and made his way towards it.

"You can't be serious." Rika said in exasperation, as Naruto started the game, "You're trying to cheer me up by giving **me** a stupid stuffed toy." The redheaded tamer finished incredulously with a raised eyebrow looking at her friend as if he were an idiot, which she knew that he was from time to time or at least he acted like he was.

"Just accept the gift and don't complain." Naruto ordered handing the disgruntled girl his recently won prize.

Looking at the small stuffed toy in her arms Rika noticed that it was a yellow kitsune plushy, with white tipped tail and ears, and blue eyes, in other words an almost exact replica of Renamon. The redheaded tamer was left speechless by the gift that Naruto decided to give her.

"Come on I want to show you something." Naruto said grabbing Rika's hand and started to lead her off somewhere before she could gather herself.

* * *

Back at the baseball field Renamon walked toward the edge of the field and jumped over the fence landing where Henry and Terriermon continued to stand.

"Renamon, Rika and Naruto were just here." Henry informed the yellow kitsune after she landed on the other side of the fence, "I think Rika was worried about you." The half-Japanese tamer told her.

"She was? Are you sure?" Renamon asked, her tone complying how disbelieving she was of Henry's statement.

"She was all white faced and jumpy, you know? She was in a bad way." Terriermon commented from Henry's shoulder.

The Vaccine Digimon raised an eyebrow that couldn't be seen, "Rika? I doubt it." Renamon remarked. "In fact if it wasn't for Naruto, I doubt that Rika would have wasted her time coming here." She finished.

"I'm sure that you don't believe that." Henry said, "Renamon, you two fit together, you should be partners not enemies." He tried to reason with her.

"Partners," Renamon muttered the word; as if it were the first time she ever said it for herself. "Partners, you keep using that word. Am I supposed to know what it means?" The yellow furred digital kitsune asked him.

Henry was quite for a moment as he tried to figure out what to say. "It's like this Terriermon and I are both friends and equals." He finally said.

"Equals," Renamon murmured the concept once more foreign to her.

"Exactly," Henry continued happy that he seemed to be making progress with the Data type Digimon, "We know each other's strengths and weaknesses." The blue haired boy tried to explain. Renamon looked thoughtful but didn't say anything. "Both of you and Rika must've had something in common or you wouldn't have become partners in the first place. It was no coincidence, I'm sure of it."

Renamon didn't say anything in regards to what Henry was saying, trying to silently decide if his words held any truth to them, before disappearing in a burst of speed. With the fox Digimon gone Henry wondered if she would actually consider anything that he said.

* * *

On top of a building stood Renamon staring out at the city, _'I won the fight,'_ Renamon thought remembering her earlier fight with the Flybeemon._ 'Why do I feel like I lost? Something doesn't feel right, something is missing.'_ She finished thinking trying to figure out what problem was when she spotted Impmon jumping from one building to another. "Now what is he up to?" The kitsune Digimon wondered.

Looking into a kids' playroom Impmon watched as two kids, that looked to be a close age to each other, fought over a stuffed toy teddy bear, "Humans, look at 'em. Dogs have more sense." Impmon muttered angrily to himself before gaining a far off look, as he recalled something that put him in the place of the stuffed toy. When Impmon saw the two kids pull on the toy until it was ripped apart and the children end up falling backwards crying. Unable to help himself Impmon grabbed his own arms with a scared look on his face, almost like he was afraid of the same thing happening to him, as he shuddered fearfully. Hearing someone come up behind him the purple Virus type Digimon turned to see Renamon walking up to him. "Well what?" Impmon demanded returning to his normal self.

"What is wrong with you?" Renamon asked him incredulously.

"Hm! Not a blasted thing toots, now toodles!" Impmon replied rudely before jumping away.

* * *

Naruto led Rika to a different area of the park where he knew few people frequented and then wrapped his arm around her waist, before jumping and landing on a tree branch sitting them both down beside each other, Calumon having been taken to Naruto's apartment by one of his clones. The little In-Training Digimon starting to nod off after they finished lunch a while ago.

"Why are we sitting in a tree?" Rika asked, her cheeks turning red from both anger and from sitting so close to Naruto that their shoulders were touching. "You said you wanted to show me something and all I can see is more trees Whiskers."

"First I need to explain something to you; I wanted to wait until everyone could be together, but it can't be helped for what I'm about to show you." Naruto began running a hand through his hair. "Alright, you remember everything I did last right?" He questioned her and getting a nod in reply.

"Hard to forget you breathing fire, standing on the ceiling, creating spiraling balls of destruction, and some other stuff." Rika remarked, still not happy with the fact that the blonde shinobi had kept such a big secret from her.

"Well basically those were jutsu or ninja techniques that I can perform with the use of chakra, I'll explain this better later." Naruto promised before continuing his explanation. "Jutsu can be broken down to three main branches, along with a few others; there is Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu. What I'm about to show you uses Genjutsu or the Art of Illusions." The cerulean eyed boy finished as he began performing hand seals.

"And that is?" Rika asked curiously.

"My home village Konohagakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Leaves." Naruto answered, performing one last hand seal as the scenery around them began to change. The first thing she noticed was the fact they were no longer sitting on a tree branch instead they were sitting on a cliff's edge. Being so high up caused Rika to grab hold of Naruto's hand instinctively, "Don't worry we're still sitting in the tree in Shinjuku park this is just an illusion." The former Konoha shinobi said reassuringly.

Taking Naruto's words to heart Rika continued to look further out. She noticed the village that was as big as any city she had seen, but it was unlike anyplace that she had ever seen before. The buildings were different from any she had seen before in their design, and though there many buildings that were many stories high, none looked like the skyscrapers that Rika saw every day in Shinjuku. There was a single building that was red in color that seemed to be at the center of the entire village. Nature interwove with the village as trees grew freely all throughout the village blending them together unlike Shinjuku whose vegetation life was limited to a few parks at random small locations. Then there was the wall far off in the distance that surrounded the village separating it from a forest far bigger than the one close to Shinjuku.

"This is amazing." Rika stated in awe. When Naruto had first mentioned that he came from a village Rika had imagined someplace in the mountains or a forest with a few small buildings that were nothing extravagant, but this was far different from what she imagined. It all looked so peaceful.

"I know." Naruto said with a fond smile as she stared out at his home, he had really missed this place. "This is one of my most favorite places in the entire village and during one of my most favorite times. There are two reasons that this place is called the Hi no Kuni or Land of Fire. You're about to see one of them." The shinobi explained to her, and it was only then that Rika finally realized that the sun was setting.

As the sun reached a certain point in the sky the forest, the village wall, and the village itself seemed to catch on fire as everything was bathed in an orange glow. Even the sky seemed to catch fire as it became different shades of pink and orange.

"Beautiful." Rika breathed out. She had watched the sun set many times when she was younger, and even now that she was older she would watch it set every once in a while, but none of them compared to what she was seeing right now. Rika was so amazed by the sight in front of her she had yet to notice that she hadn't let go of Naruto's hand since she grabbed it earlier.

"I used to come up here all the time when I was younger. Whenever I was feeling lonely and things in the village were just too much for me to deal with at the time." Naruto could feel Rika's questioning gaze at his last remark. "Let's just say my life growing up wasn't the best and leave it at that, it didn't help that I was reminded almost daily that I was an orphan." The blonde finished somewhat sadly at the end before blighting back up. "But when I came up here I could ignore all of that because it was so peaceful. This is my one original Genjutsu the first I could ever actually perform because my skills with illusions were so bad, you're the first person I've ever shown this to and the first person I've ever brought up here. I want this to be proof that I do trust you Rika, I might not be able to tell you all my secrets right away but I never want you to doubt that you're my friend and that I care about you." He finished, starring right into Rika's amethyst eyes with an intensity that Rika remembered from last night when he was fighting Icedevimon, and the first night that her grandmother invited the blonde to dinner.

"Baka," Rika murmured quietly, finally noticing that she held his hand but didn't let go, the insult lacking any sort of negativity to it, as she returned to starring out toward the village and did her best to quell the blush that threatened to blossom on her face. Watching the sun set Rika could understand what Naruto meant by it being peaceful, and with having him beside her she also felt the warmth and sense of protection she always felt when he was near her. Peace, warmth, and safety were things that Rika hadn't felt in a long time not since her father passed away, but if Naruto said he trusted her then maybe she should start trusting him with things as well. "I was scared last night." Rika admitted softly her voice just barely above a whisper, "Not necessarily for me, but for you and Renamon. I was scared that Renamon might turn into a monster like Icedevimon if she digivolved. I was also scared that you would be hurt when you decided to fight him on your own, even when you showed that you can handle him I was still worried. I didn't want to lose the two of you." She managed to get out a part of her struggling with showing this kind of sentiments.

Naruto wanted to say something in regards to how Rika was acting, but he knew that it wasn't the best time for his antics, and that this was something that Rika needed to get off her chest, so he listened to her silently.

"When my papa died," Rika continued finally revealing to Naruto what happened to her father, "I felt all alone, it didn't help that my mother threw herself into her career afterwards so I barely saw her. Grandma did her best to help, but I still felt hurt so I pushed everything and everyone away. I knew that I was hurting Grandma by doing that, but I just couldn't deal with the pain I felt." She said a few tears going down her face as she recalled those days.

Naruto put his arm around her and pulled her into a one armed hug doing his best to offer her comfort and support, as she reviled all of this to him.

"I eventually became an Ice Queen, treating everyone coldly like they didn't matter." She said with a slight scowl, using one of the nicknames that the girls from her school had given her. "But then I meet Renamon and, not long after, you." Rika continued a small smile forming on her lips. "I hated you, you know." The redheaded tamer admitted with a light chuckle. "You were so annoying always trying to get closer to me, never leaving me alone, and how you insisted on walking me home from school. I hated how it seemed that whenever I turned around you were always there with that stupid smile on your face calling me, 'Ri-Chan,' and all but forcing me to hang out with you, but eventually I didn't mind as much and you actually became my best friend." She paused at that moment turning to look at him, knocking his arm off from around her shoulder; with the best glare she could give him at the moment. Though she came off looking rather cute something Naruto would never tell her or suffer' the consequences of her wrath. "Don't get me wrong I still think you're annoying and spend too much time at my house bothering me!" Rika stated angrily.

"Of course," Naruto said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, as he did his best not to laugh at her complete turnaround.

Rika glared at him for a minute longer before continuing, the soft smile once again appearing on her face, "Renamon wasn't anywhere near as pushy as you were in becoming my friend, but I knew she was there looking out for me like a Guardian Angel that I could count on always being there. But after last night Renamon doesn't have a reason to lookout for me anymore, she is strong enough on her own."

"You're being stupid again." Naruto said reproachfully catching Rika by surprise. "Renamon is your friend and partner no matter how strong she gets she will always be there for you. She'd never abandon you, so you shouldn't either." He told her seriously before smiling at her and his voice growing softer. "And I promise you Rika that I'll always be there beside you no matter what happens." The blonde shinobi finished.

"Baka," Rika said repeating her earlier sentiments, as she once again broke eye contact with him to look at the setting sun. Rika could feel the same sense of warmth and security once again rising' within her that put her at ease. Having Naruto help quell her worries and lessen some of the pain from her past caused Rika to feel comfortable enough to do something she hadn't done since her father had died.

"_Promise that we'll stay for the sunset,  
And when the moon shines through the darkness,  
We can find the path that leads us home,  
And on the way you'll...  
...maybe...  
...sing me a song._

_Promise that you always will be there,  
Hold my hand if ever I'm real scared,  
Help me stand up tall if I fall down,_

_Make me laugh away all my bluest days!_

_How could you promise you always would be there?_

_Why'd you have to go away somewhere?_

_Every morning into every night,_

_Do you watch over me like the sun in the sky?_

_Am I all alone, or standing in your light?_

_I wish that I could...  
...maybe...  
...sing you a song...  
...tonight._

_You promised me we'd stay for the sunset..."_

Rika finished singing just as the sun finally set giving way to a clear starry night sky, which were filled with constellations that Rika had never seen before. Looking toward her companion Rika found him looking at her. "What is it?" Rika asked him a bit self-conscious; the last person that she had sung that song to was her father before he died after all.

Naruto actually blushed, as he was broken out of his trance from hearing Rika sing. "Ah nothing, it's just that you have a beautiful singing voice. I've never heard anything like it before." Naruto told her, causing Rika to blush lightly as well. "In fact the last time I saw anything that could compare to that was one night when I was twelve when I saw a girl…" He trailed off at the end canceling the Genjutsu, the former Konoha shinobi noticing that the sun was lower in the sky than he remembered apparently they had been there a while. "Never mind," Naruto said hastily grabbing ahold of Rika and jumping off the tree branch and landing smoothly on the ground.

"When you saw a girl what?" Rika asked, though it came out sounding more like a demand, as she once more glaring at the blonde.

"Don't worry about it, it was nothing." Naruto said dismissively waving his hand. "Let's not ruin the moment we're sharing."

"We are not sharing a moment and even if we were you already ruined it, Fishcake no Baka!" The redhead said angrily. "Now tell me!"

"I told you it's nothing." Naruto insisted, "Now come on I'll walk you home."

Rika let out a huff of indignation, but she knew that she wouldn't be getting anything else out of him. "Fine," She relented. "But if you tell anyone else what I told you…" Her threat was left unfinished, choosing to rather leave it to his imagination.

"I got it, I won't tell a soul." Naruto said with slight chuckle.

* * *

The walk back to Rika's home was performed in silence as neither tamer felt like there was anything that needed to be said between them, so they enjoyed the walk together, Rika still having the stuffed fox Naruto had given her clutched in her hand. In no time at all the two teens found themselves standing outside of the gate to Rika's home.

"Well here we are." Naruto announced obviously turning to face Rika with a smile on his face, handing her white and blue D-arc back to her. "I hope that you had fun today Ri-Chan."

Rika had to admit that despite a couple of things she had enjoyed her time that day with Naruto. "It was fine, I guess." Rika murmured.

"That's good." Naruto said honestly. Then acting without even thinking about it Naruto leaned in and placed a kiss on Rika's cheek surprising himself' and the amethyst eyed tamer if her widened eyes were anything to go by. Pulling back Naruto stared at her for a second before giving her a hasty, if not a somewhat awkward, goodbye before leaving.

Rika's face burned hotter than it ever had before. It had lasted less than a second but in her mind it seemed to last for hours. Every fiber of her being was focused on the spot where his lips met her cheek and she was filled with the desire to feel them again. To have his lips pressed against hers, to have him kiss her, for her to be able to kiss him back. Just as suddenly as those thoughts had appeared Rika banished them from her mind, why was she so suddenly thinking of those sort of things it was very unlike her and she didn't want to think about it anymore, but if that was true then why was her heart beating so fast? Why did she feel like there were butterflies in her stomach, as it did flip flops?

The red haired tamer stopped at the entrance of her home, her hand on the gate door waiting to be opened. When did things change so much? How long ago was it that she was the cold hearted girl that only cared about being the best? Today when they went out, while she was forced to go at the start, she had a lot of fun spending the day with Naruto, and after the events of last night she really needed a day where she could relax and not have to worry about any wild Digimon, even though at the end she had to be present at a Digimon's bioemergence twice. They had spent a couple of hours talking while watching the illusion of Naruto's home, and she had finally been able to share some of the things she had to keep to herself for years in order to appear strong to everyone around her. Watching the sun set on the Land of Fire had been incredible and Rika hoped she would be able to see such a sight again someday.

Rika stared at the stuffed fox in her hand. Earlier when she first saw it Rika was reminded of her partner. But as she looked at it now the sun kissed blonde fur and sapphire blue eyes the fox reminded Rika of Naruto instead of Renamon. The thought caused a smile to spread across her face unconsciously as she clutched it closer to herself.

"Did you enjoy yourself on your date Rika?" Seiko asked the moment that Rika walked into the living room.

"It wasn't a date Grandma." Rika replied with a sigh. Why did she sigh? Obviously because Rika didn't like her grandmother suggesting something that wasn't true, not because she wanted her' and Naruto's outing to be an actual date, nope not at all.

"Oh? But isn't that cute little fox plushy a gift from Naruto-Kun from your date today?" Seiko continued to interrogate her granddaughter with knowing smile on her face.

Rika blushed lightly at the question before she tried to deny the accusation. "It wasn't a date." Rika muttered again. "And this is nothing; it's just a stupid stuffed toy Whiskers gave me while we were out. That idiot should know by now that I don't like this kind of useless junk and wasn't going to keep it." She finished tossing the fox toy in a nearby waste basket that was filled to brim with waded up paper.

"Is that so?" Seiko murmured a bit sadly.

"I'll be in my room." Rika told her grandmother as she walked out of the room, though she hesitated for second when she passed the waste basket and glanced at the stuffed toy.

* * *

As the sun began to set over Shinjuku, Impmon was walking on a railing in front of a billboard, which was promoting Arashi Kazama's next book release, _**"Nagato: The Fallen God,"**_ with Renamon following him walking on top of the billboard. "Hm, quit following me!" Impmon shouted, turning around and pointing a finger at the blonde fox Digimon.

"I have a question." Renamon stated ignoring Impmon's demand.

"And you think I care? Actually I do care, surprised? I care because I'm sure it's something stupid!" The Virus Rookie yelled, as Renamon jumped off the billboard and landed on same railing as Impmon. "Hm, I've learned not to expect much from you human loving digi-duds, but maybe there's hope for you darling, coming to yours truly for the answers. So tell me foxy, what can I do for ya?" Impmon asked her.

"Why don't you have a partner?" Renamon asked the question causing Impmon to almost lose his balance. "Why should a Digimon have a partner?" She continued.

"You got me; no self-respecting Digimon needs a partner specially a human." Impmon said dismissively.

"Are you sure?" Renamon pressed on.

"Of course I am," The small imp retorted angrily, "Humans are selfish, I'd stay far away from them if I were you. They're trouble with a capital T. I'm sorry fox face, did I go too fast for you? Ah forget about it!" Impmon continued his little rant before ending it like he didn't care one way or the other, as he jumped off the railing and landed on the building ledge.

"How can we digivolve or increase our strength unless we have a partner?" The yellow vixen continued to question just a tad bit of desperation entering her normally stoic voice.

"Ah, come on! You're not really buying that one? The power's inside of you! Forget all the rest!" Impmon answered aggravated. Really didn't these human loving digi-pets know anything, they were all pretty much brainwashed into believing that they need those pathetic humans.

"How do I find it?"

"Uh," Now that question threw Impmon for a loop as he had been basically making everything up as he went along. "I guess you're not very bright. Don't expect me to tell you what to do you gotta figure it out for yourself." Impmon said pompously acting as if he really did know the answer.

"I see, I think I get what you're trying to say." Renamon said returning back to her usual calm self.

"You get what I'm trying to say?" Impmon repeated skeptically before getting irritated, "You're just a know-it-all like the rest of them, 'I get it, I get it', well you're not Einstein and frankly you make me sick to my stomach!" He finished spitting off to the side.

"I'll leave you alone then." Renamon told him, as she turned around and jumped away onto the nearby building until she finally disappeared from sight.

"Hey I got a lot more to say, don't ya want to hear? Ah Ba Boom," Impmon shouted at her retreating form.

As Renamon was dashing across the rooftops her mind was focused on the conversation that she just had with Impmon. _'I have an idea of Impmon was saying, but I still have questions that need to be answered.' _Renamon thought to herself a specific destination in mind.

* * *

After dropping Rika off Naruto returned to his apartment and was currently on his laptop the sun having already set awhile ago, while he ignored the noise that Patamon, Coronamon, and Calumon were making in the living room, and trying not to think about why he kissed Rika as he was leaving. It's not like he planned on kissing her like that, even if it was just on the cheek, it had just happened. The first time he met Sasuke after his two and a half training trip the Uchiha informed him that he had spared Naruto's life on a whim. Were his actions earlier merely a whim? Somehow that idea just didn't sound appropriate for what happened.

Naruto was brought out of his thoughts when he spotted Renamon out his window on the building across from his apartment. For a moment Naruto had the terrifying thought that the yellow vixen was there in regards to the kiss that he had given Rika, before rationalizing it with the fact that she hadn't been there when it happened. Either way Naruto figured that Renamon was there to talk to him, if the fixed way she was staring at him was anything to go by. Without a second thought Naruto jumped out of his window, and landed on the building beside Renamon. The vixen clearly surprised by the look she was giving him, apparently even despite what she had seen him do last night it still hadn't settled in her mind that he was different from other humans.

Renamon seemed to quickly recompose herself as her look of surprise returned to her normal apathetic one. "Just what are you?" She asked him bluntly getting right to the point.

"I don't know what you mean." Naruto replied feigning ignorance.

"You are not a normal human being. You can do things that no other human should be able to do. Just last night you fought Icedevimon, a Champion level Fallen Angel Digimon, and from what I could see you weren't even putting much effort into the fight." Renamon said accusingly. "Then I feel the need to obey you whenever you are present that I have yet to understand. So again, just what are you?" The vixen finished her voice sounding just a bit demanding, though her instincts were screaming at her to kneel before the blonde and beg him for forgiveness for the way she was talking to him.

Naruto could hear just how desperate Renamon was to know the answer to her question, especially with what she said at the end, so he decided it was best to answer her. "I am Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, Shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato, Toad Sage of Mt. Myōbokuzan, Sandaime Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and Nidaime Kyuubi no Kitsune." Naruto informed her seriously.

"Kyuubi… no… Kitsune," Renamon spoke the name slowly almost reverently, besides the obvious association it had to her Champion level, the title resonated deep within the blonde furred vixen filling a gap in her being she hadn't even realized was missing. "W-what does that mean?" She uncharacteristically stammered out.

"It means that I am the King of all Kitsune. That is why you are reacting to me like you have been. It's your natural instincts telling you to obey my every order, though because you're a Digimon it would take a direct order from me to make you obedient." Naruto told her, reliving Renamon a bit with the news.

"How is it possible for you, a human, to be the Kyuubi?" Renamon continued questioning him.

"The story is to long if you want to have a complete understanding of it." Naruto informed her dismissively, "To shorten it I had the previous Kyuubi, Kurama, sealed into me at birth."

"Then everything that you did last night?"

"Is a result of my shinobi training, or what you would call a ninja," Naruto supplied.

Renamon absorbed all this information and took it well there was just one thing she didn't understand, "Why are you answering all my questions?" She asked him; besides his initial denial Naruto had done nothing to keep anything from her answering all her questions without hesitation.

"Because," Naruto began a smirk crossing his face, "I forbid you from telling anyone else what we are discussing." The Second Kyuubi ordered, and already Renamon could feel herself willing to comply. "It's not like I'm going to keep all this to myself, I actually plan on telling Rika and the others most of this soon, but I want to keep everything related to me being the Kyuubi secret for a while longer." He said, "Is there something else you want to talk about?"

"What does it take to become stronger?" Renamon asked him going on to something else she had been wondering about, "Is it just our own will or is there something more to it? Impmon told me that I already have the power within me and that I don't need anyone else to become stronger, is he right?" She wondered.

"Impmon?" Naruto questioned, taken back by the mention of the purple Virus Digimon. "Well, I guess he isn't technically wrong. We can grow strong on our own," The former Jinchuuriki began. "But true strength comes from protecting those you consider precious; I think this is especially true for Digimon."

"What do you mean?" Renamon asked confused.

"Digimon are naturally strong and given enough time, and the right training, can grow even stronger." Naruto said, "But they break through any power limits that are set on them, usually by Digivolving, when they are protecting their partners, their friends, or even themselves." The sapphire eyed shinobi explained, "As strong as you are and will become I know that you are stronger when you are with Rika fighting together, understand?" The whiskered tamer asked at the end.

"I believe so," Renamon murmured softly, _'But Rika and I are no longer partners, if we ever were.'_ The Rookie level Digimon realized,_ 'Does that mean I will never be as strong as I could be. If that is the case then I must rely on the power within me. I am alone in this world.'_

Before the two could continue their conversation Renamon's fur suddenly stood on end, and from how she immediately turned her head towards the park, Naruto could easily guess that another Digimon had just Bioemerged for the third time that day. Not a second later Renamon disappeared heading toward the park.

Jumping backing into his room Naruto grabbed his things already sure that Patamon and Coronamon would know about the Digimon that had just Bioemerged, Coronamon had been irritated with the fact that he already missed out on fighting a Digimon twice. Grabbing his cellphone Naruto called Rika.

"Whiskers? What do you want now?" Rika asked from the other end of the line. "Is this about the Digimon?" She questioned D-arc having signaled the appearance of a new Digimon.

"It is, Ri-Chan I need you to head over to the park." Naruto instructed.

"What? Why?"

"You'll see once you get there." The blonde shinobi replied ending the call before Rika could say anything, and made his way out his apartment Coronamon and Patamon already waiting on him, with Calumon tagging along for the fun it.

* * *

Making it to the center of the Digital Field, Renamon started looking around for any signs of the unknown Digimon. She could hear screeching coming from all around her and it was because of that, that she was able evade the Digimon's attack from behind.

Looking at the Digimon Renamon noticed that it looked like the general description of a harpy with white feathers trimmed in gold, it had talon feet with red claws, and long ribbon like tail flowing behind it stripped in gold. It wore a red shirt that went all the way over its head, with a silver and gold armored vest over it and a hat with the same color scheme over its head. Its face was plane, but clearly female, as it showed absolutely no emotion and didn't move unless it was to let out a piercing screech from its mouth.

The harpy Digimon continued to try and attack Renamon by diving at the kitsune Digimon, only for Renamon to easily jump out of the way. Renamon tried to counter attack with a few punches and kicks, but the harpy proved to be an agile flyer, evading the Rookie's strikes before they could land.

Through the fog of the Digital Field Guilmon and Terriermon appeared with Takato and Henry coming through seconds later. They instantly noticed the situation that Renamon was in and with a quick look around it was made obvious that the yellow fox Digimon was on her own.

Takato was the first to pull out his D-arc and scan the harpy Digimon and read out loud the information. "Whoa it's Harpymon, an Armor level Data type Digimon with a nasty screech that sounds like nails down a chalkboard. Renamon's gonna have a tough time dealing with her Wind Seeker attack." Takato finished reading.

Guilmon and Terriermon tried to move closer in order to help their fellow Digimon, but a quick screech of, "Wind Seeker!" from Harpymon caused a gust a cutting wind to be blasted at the two of them, the attack slicing through the ground between them, and sending them to the ground.

Right after Guilmon and Terriermon were forced to the ground Naruto showed up with Rika and his partner Digimon and Calumon. Seeing the redhead seemed the cheer up the other tamer and Digimon pair, as they excitedly announced her arrival to Renamon.

The female tamer and Digimon looked at each other for a moment before Renamon broke eye contact with Rika and charged at Harpymon landing a punch and kick combo in less than a few seconds, which resulted in the flying Digimon hitting the ground hard. Landing back on the ground Renamon stared at her fallen opponent thoughtfully unsure what to do now that she had seemingly won. _'I could load the data of every opponent I fight and take them apart one by one. But what's the point after it's all over?'_ Renamon thought to herself, closing her eyes for a moment as she tried to come to an answer.

"Idiot one let your guard down!" Naruto shouted out a warning to Renamon when he noticed her closing her eyes and ignoring her opponent.

His warning came too late as Harpymon recovered enough to fire off her own attack at the unsuspecting fox Digimon, "Wind Seeker!" The wind based attack hit Renamon at close range. Luckily the attack didn't have enough time to gather any speed or strength, so it didn't cut through her like it did the ground, but it was strong enough to tear at her fur and leave her on the ground. Harpymon flew above the fallen Digimon and tried to impale Renamon with her talons by stomping on her, only for the kitsune to roll out of the way just in time.

Rika tried to come up with something quickly to help her partner. In her rush to get to the park like Naruto instructed she had left her cards on the table in her room, just grabbing her D-arc on the way out, she was really regretting that now. In her desperation to save her Digimon Rika didn't even consider the fact that Naruto, or one of the other Digimon, could help Renamon. So when Rika saw a broken branch on the ground nearby, she grabbed it and charged at the harpy Digimon stabbing the branch right below Harpymon's armored vest, eliciting a painful scream from the Armor level Digimon.

Spinning around Harpymon glared down at the redheaded girl menacingly.

Reacting quickly Naruto dashed forward before scooping Rika in his arms and jumped over the angry harpy to land beside the recovering Renamon, as a portal appeared behind Naruto and Rika just as they landed with what looked like two Wind Seekers coming out of the portal followed by two Harpymon.

DIGIVOLUTION

"Renamon digivolve to… Kyuubimon!"

"Coronamon digivolve to… Firamon!"

"Patamon digivolve to… Angemon!"

The two Wind Seeker attacks from behind were blocked when Firamon and Angemon launched their Fire Bomb and Hand of Faith attacks respectively, the explosion affecting the surrounding area with its strong winds. As Angemon and Firamon moved to face off with their opponents, Kyuubimon stood and faced off against the original Harpymon that flew up into the air in front of them, so the female kitsune stood back to back with the two other Champion level Digimon.

"That was a very brave and stupid thing you did. What were you thinking?" Naruto asked the girl in his arms incredulously.

"I couldn't just stand there and do nothing, I had to help." Rika replied defending her actions, watching intently as Kyuubimon stood defiantly against the original Harpymon, not even paying attention to the fact that she was currently in Naruto's arms or not minding.

Though he didn't say it Naruto was actually proud of Rika's actions, as reckless and foolish as they were, it showed just how much she cared about Renamon.

The first one to break the standoff was Kyuubimon who raised and spread out her nine tails, "Fox Tail Inferno!" She shouted, her tails lighting with ghostly blue flames before the fireballs were launched at the first Harpymon. Harpymon did her best to dodge the fireballs, but even with her agile flying the ghostly flames still managed come close enough to her to leave burn marks on her feathers.

The other two Harpymon tried to put some distance between them and the two Vaccine type Digimon and attack from a distance. Sadly, for them, Firamon and Angemon were just as good flyers as them, even better in Angemon's case as he outflew the two harpies. From above them Angemon spun his staff expertly around himself before it started to glow a radiant golden light. "Angel Rod," Angemon intoned slamming his staff into one of the Harpymon before spinning around and hitting the other one, sending both back toward the ground.

From below Firamon charged up at the two descending harpies. Igniting his claws on fire the fire lion Digimon called out the name of his attack as he passed them by. "Fire Claw," Firamon snarled slashing at the two falling Armor level Digimon.

The three Harpymon regrouped, each of them shakily keeping themselves in the air, as their three opponents did the same thing now standing protectively in front of their tamers.

Placing his staff in front of him, Angemon began to spin it around wind quickly gathering around it, before flapping his wings forward once and unleashing a hurricane. "Omni Typhoon!" Angemon shouted sweeping the three Harpymon into the gale force winds that were impossible for them to escape. With the three armored harpies gathered together and unable to escape Firamon and Kyuubimon fired their attacks to delete the three Digimon.

"Fire Bomb!"

"Dragon Wheel!"

A single red fireball entered the hurricane followed by a dragon made of ghostly flames, the winds making both fire attacks stronger and their flames burn brighter. The two fire attacks slammed into the three Harpymon and they were consumed in flames of blue and red before finally bursting into data, and the Digital Field started to dissipate. Everyone watched the data from the Harpymon disappear into the night sky, as Rika approached her partner tentatively yet curious as to why Renamon wasn't loading any of the data.

"You're not loading their data?" Rika asked softly her hand resting against Kyuubimon's head stroking the kitsune's fur, as the others looked on in silence, she already knew that Naruto wouldn't allow his Digimon to absorb the data of their enemy, but she wondered why Kyuubimon wasn't.

"No." Kyuubimon replied gently leaning into Rika's touch.

Rika looked at her partner confusedly, "But, why not?" She questioned.

"Because I don't need it anymore," Kyuubimon answered simply, but by the look that Rika was giving her the amethyst eyed tamer didn't seem to understand her. "I don't need an opponent's data, because I have you."

The redhead turned her gaze down to the ground, "Uh, because of me?" Rika repeated bashfully.

"Rika, you just saved my life. Why did you do it?" The kitsune Digimon questioned curiously.

"Someone had to do it, you saved my life once." Rika replied.

"You were just repaying a debt?" Kyuubimon

"No, that's not what I meant. You're my partner." The redhead said correcting both herself and her Digimon. She knew what she wanted to say and with the things that she and Naruto talked about it should be easy for her, but Rika found voicing it to be much harder than she had originally thought.

"And that's what partners do. We protect each other, is that what you're saying?" Kyuubimon tried to supply.

Rika gave her partner a slight smile, "Mm Hm, something like that. We'll watch each other's back." She said.

"Uh... I don't get it." Takato voiced after a moment of silence.

"The both of them are just being stubborn and refusing to admit that were both worried about each other." Naruto answered with a roll of his eyes at the female tamer and Digimon's antics. "I talked to them both about this and they're still having trouble being honest with each other." He finished in an exasperated tone of voice.

"It is kind of obvious that they are worried about each other." Henry said with a chuckle.

Takato laughed as well, "Being honest with each other would be too hard." The brown haired boy added jokingly.

Naruto let out a sigh, "Alright then," The cerulean eyed shinobi said loud enough to draw everyone's attention. "Now that we're all friends again I owe you all an explanation for what happened last night." Naruto began making them all, with the exception of Guilmon and Calumon, who were too busy playing, and Coronamon and Patamon, who already knew their tamer's secrets, curious to what he would say, though Rika already knew a small part of it. "But considering how late it is how about we wait until tomorrow? We can all meet at my apartment." The blonde former Jinchuuriki offered.

The other tamers were a little disappointed that they would still have to wait to learn how their friend took on a Champion level Digimon, but eventually agreed to meet the next day before splitting up. They justified their wait with the fact that they would get to see were their enigmatic friend lived.

* * *

Arriving back at her home Rika did the best she could to not make a sound and accidently wake up her grandmother. Before going to her room the redheaded tamer passed through the living room and grabbed the stuffed fox plushy that Naruto had given her earlier out of the waste basket, and took it to her room. As Rika entered her room she never noticed how the door to her grandmother's room was opened just a bit, how it closed after Rika entered her room, or the sound of light laughter that came from inside.

* * *

**AN: Done. Now it should be obvious from this chapter that I don't know how to actually play the Digimon card game, but seeing as my other story has a card tournament I'm going to need to learn. So if anyone knows of a site that could help me learn or and can help explain it to me it would be very much appreciated.**

**That's it, thank you for reading and please remember to review.**


	12. Revelations of a Shinobi

**AN: First off I want to say how sorry I am at how long it took me to post this chapter of Shinobi of the Digital Hazard. It took me forever to write I think I actually went an entire week without even writing down a single sentence, but now it's finished and I couldn't be happier. Some won't be happy with this chapter but it's already been more than a month and I think it's time I post this.**

**Secondly I'm most happy to announce that KitsuneDragon's Naruto: Tamer of the XAntibody sequel has been posted, finally, so if you haven't already read it go and do that it is an amazing first chapter.**

**Now it's time to get on with this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do ****NOT**** own Naruto, Digimon, or anything else that may appear in this Fic.**

* * *

Revelations of a Shinobi

"Talking"  
_'Thinking'_  
**"Megidramon"  
(Author Notes)**

The next day the Tamers and their Digimon met for the first time in Naruto's apartment, Naruto helping to sneak Guilmon in, so that Naruto could explain to them how he was able to fight Icedevimon and perform Jutsus. As it was the first time any of them had ever been to Naruto's apartment they took a few minutes to take a quick look around at everything, and they were all very amazed with how well it was furnished and everything Naruto had in his apartment. Soon after all the Tamers and their Digimon sat down in Naruto's living room waiting for the blonde shinobi to start his explanation.

Sitting down on one of the coaches Naruto let out a sigh as he looked at the others, Rika sitting on a coach by herself with Renamon standing behind her, while Henry and Takato sat on a sofa, Terriermon sitting on Henry's shoulder and Guilmon standing beside Takato. "Alright last night I said I owed you all an explanation and I guess the best place to start is at the beginning." Naruto started, while Coronamon and Patamon were keeping Calumon entertained in a different room. "The first thing you all need to know is that I'm not from this world." The cerulean eyed shinobi stated.

"Wait, what do you mean you're not from this world?" Takato asked bewildered cutting in on Naruto's explanation, asking what everyone was wondering. "Are you like from the Digital World, or some type of alien?"

"Neither," Naruto replied. "I'm from a different dimension, or universe, or reality. It's kind of confusing and hard to tell which one it really is, if there is any kind of difference between them." The spikey haired blonde said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"A different dimension, seriously?" Rika asked him dubiously, she would have been more inclined to believe him if he said he was an alien. "Shouldn't you have told us this sort of thing when we first met?" What Rika really wanted to ask was since they both had first met personally, but didn't want to say that sort of thing in front of the other two male Tamers.

"If I had told you the truth when we had both first met would you have believed me?" Naruto asked back with a raised eyebrow.

"He's got a point there." Henry spoke up pacifyingly, "It is sort of hard to believe." He finished trying, as always, to act as the peace keeper.

Rika let out a light huff, as she crossed her arms over her chest, "Okay so if that's true, then how is it that you're here?" The redhead questioned.

"I was brought here by the Four Great Dragons." Naruto answered her. "But I'm getting ahead of myself and you all need to know about the world I came from first, and that will help to explain how I was able to do all the things I did the other night. You see back in my old world I am a shinobi." Naruto then told them everything that he felt was relevant that explained what one's life was like in the Elemental Countries, the Hidden Villages, the Five Kages, Jutsu and Chakra, and Shinobi and Kunoichi. He told them a bit about some of his adventures as a shinobi and his old friends, Senseis, and people he cared about.

Then he told them about Akatsuki, Madara, the Fourth Great Shinobi War, and how the Uchiha's plan was to cast the world into an eternal genjutsu. What he didn't tell them was about the nine Bijuu, the Juubi, and how he was personally involved in it all by being the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. It's not that he didn't trust them with his old secret or how he had become the new Kyuubi; it was more like old insecurities were keeping him from telling them until he was sure they could handle it. The civilians of Konoha couldn't understand him having the Kyuubi sealed inside him, and they lived in a ninja village were things like seals weren't all that uncommon. How would Rika and the others react when they found out that bit of information when even the most basic of ninja techniques were something they would have never considered imaginable? Naruto at least wanted them to be more comfortable with everything he's telling them about the Elemental Countries before he tells them about his connection to Kyuubi.

After Naruto got finished telling them all of that they were shocked to say the least, though Guilmon did look a little lost.

"So you're a ninja from a different dimension?" Takato asked for the sake of clarity.

"Yup," Naruto replied simply. He could understand Takato's skepticism; it was a very hard thing to just accept even with their knowledge of the existence of Digimon. At least they knew about Digimon beforehand from the T.V. show and the card game, before they learned that Digital Monsters were real.

"Well the existence of other worlds isn't impossible." Henry stated, as he cupped his chin thoughtfully. "There have been more than a few theories of other worlds and different dimensions after all. The Digital World is a good example of a different world and we know it's real because of the Digimon." The blue haired Tamer rationalized.

Rika sat quietly for a moment as she digested all the information that Naruto had given them. Her mind was reeling with the news, that her friend was from such a world was astounding, and it sure helped to explain what she saw him do in his fight against Icedevimon. But that still left his strange effect on Renamon unanswered. Rika guessed that after Naruto had shown her that genjutsu of his home the other day she shouldn't be as surprised as the others by what they had just learned. One part though stood out to the amethyst eyed redhead. "You were part of a war?" Rika asked Naruto. The question quieted Takato and Henry from their amazement and interest of the other world filled with ninja and jutsu. They had been so caught up on their own things, Takato on ninjas and Henry on the thought of a completely different world that they had forgotten for a second about Naruto participating in a war. Neither of them could even begin to imagine what the blonde Tamer had faced during that time.

Naruto expected one of them to ask him about that, and he wasn't all that surprised when it was Rika that did. "Yes," Naruto answered, his mind momentarily going back to his part of the war. "The Fourth Great Shinobi War was the shortest of all the wars and the first time the Five Great Shinobi Nations came together to fight a common foe. I can't really say how it was compared to the other three wars, but it was definitely the most important with losing costing everyone their freedom." The sapphire eyed shinobi told them.

"And did you have to kill anyone." Rika asked him uncertainly.

"That's a difficult question to answer." Naruto said. "During the war the enemy forces consisted of resurrected shinobi, little better then zombies really, and an army of humanoid plant creatures called Zetsu." He explained, recalling the army of white Zetsu. "But even before then I have killed." The former Jinchuuriki informed them honestly.

"No… way," Takato said disbelievingly and his eyes wide, as he started to see the blonde in front of him in a slightly different light. Rika and Henry were also shocked by Naruto's admission as the idea of their friend being a killer was not something they had ever expected, and a small part of the three Tamers were afraid, even though another part of them was sure that the blonde shinobi would never do anything to hurt them.

"How can they all be ok with having children trained to be killers?" Henry asked horrified by what seemed like something so barbaric.

Naruto let out a sigh, "I know that it's hard for you all to understand, but that's just the kind of life we lived back there. Nobody forced us to become shinobi and we spent years learning about what would be expected of us if we did become shinobi." Naruto said making sure to look at every Tamer in the eye as he said that, so they understood how serious he was being. "Each ninja village has their own exams that test whether an academy student is ready to graduate and become Genin, and even then there is a second test to decide if graduates are deserving of keeping the rank of Genin."

"Genin?" Rika asked confused.

"It's one of the ninja ranks." Naruto explained, "For simplicities sake the ranks of Genin, Chunin, Jounin, and Kage, are like a Digimon being Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, and Mega respectively. There are a few others ranks, but we can ignore those for now." The blonde shinobi stated.

"What rank were you?" Takato asked him curiously.

Naruto blushed lightly at the question. "Genin," He mumbled looking off to the side.

"You were only a Genin." Rika said incredulously. From what Rika had seen she would have expected him to be something higher.

"Hey that is only my official rank; I'm much stronger than any Genin and most Jounin." Naruto said heatedly. "It's only because of the war and everything leading up to it that I wasn't able to advance in ranks." He finished.

Henry was still not okay with allowing children to become soldiers, but decided to focus on something else for the moment and he was curious about how shinobi got promoted to a higher rank, so he asked Naruto how it happened.

"For Genin to become Chunin they normally take part in Chunin Exams that are held twice a year." Naruto started. "A Genin team, approved by their Jounin sensei, goes to whichever village is holding the Chunin Exams and takes part in the exam that consists of three parts. Each village's first two parts of the exam is different but the third test is always a tournament for the Genin to display their skills to everyone, and if they show that they have what it takes they are given the rank of Chunin."

The three Tamers then asked a few more questions, which Naruto answered as long as it didn't have anything to do with the Jinchuuriki. The more Naruto explained about his old world the more the Tamers came to accept the difference between the two worlds, even if they weren't ok with it they understood that there was nothing they could do about it besides needlessly complain.

The Digimon were more understanding of the world Naruto came from, well Renamon and Terriermon were Guilmon didn't understand the more serious parts of the conversation. In the Digital World it was ruled by the idea of kill or be killed, so they understood the need to kill others either to survive or protect those they care for. When a Digimon was deleted it was basically the same thing as dying after all, it didn't matter if the deleted Digimon's data was absorbed or not the likely hood of the Digimon remembering their past life was almost nonexistent, so it was the end of a Digimon's life no matter how you looked at it.

"So how did you get here?" Rika asked repeating her question from before.

"It was during the end of the war, I was able to land a finishing blow on Madara when a rift was torn in space sucking me in. I nearly died but was saved at the last second by the Four Great Dragons: Azulongmon, Magnadramon, Goldramon, and… Megidramon," The last name was spoken hesitatingly as Naruto wasn't sure how the other occupants in the room would react to it.

"You actually meet the Four Great Dragons." Terriermon said astounded.

"Incredible," Renamon said in a whisper.

Rika looked back at her partner in confusion. "Renamon, who are they?" The redhead questioned. She recognized the names of Azulongmon and Magnadramon, but she did not recognize them by the title of the Four Great Dragons, none of the Tamers did.

"'Who are they?' How could you not who they are, they are some of the strongest Digimon in all the Digital World that look after everyone?" Terriermon questioned her in disbelief, which earned him a glare from the amethyst eyed girl.

"Hey behave." Henry said scolding his partner lightly. "I don't know who they are either." The blue haired Tamer pointed out.

"Do you know who they are boy?" Takato asked his partner, who shook his head negatively.

"What the rabbit seems to have forgotten is that even amongst Digimon the Four Great Dragons are spoken only in legend. While the existence of Azulongmon and Magnadramon are common thing there is only one Azulongmon in the entirety of the Digital World, while the Magnadramon that is part of the Four Great Dragon faction is far more powerful than any other Magnadramon." Renamon explained in her calm and almost stoic voice, before continuing. "Little is known about the last two members besides that Goldramon is said to be on equal grounds in terms of power as Fanglongmon, who is regarded to be something like a god in the Digital World." The fox Digimon stated, shocking the Tamers by how powerful Goldramon seemed to be, even Naruto didn't know that the dragon was so strong. "Even less is known about Megidramon, not even what he looks like, what is known are just rumors about an incredible power he possess. Though what that power exactly is no one is sure, and no one can agree on." The digital kitsune finished.

Naruto knew that the power Renamon was talking about was the Digital Hazard; it was the same power that Megidramon had given him when he arrived and the same power in Guilmon that he was supposed to keep in check. It was also the same power that Lucemon had under his control, and what made him even more dangerous of an opponent. He couldn't tell the others this fact as he had promised Megidramon to keep any information about the Digital Hazard secret until it was absolutely necessary to tell the others, and so far Naruto didn't have enough of a good reason to tell them.

"After rescuing me the Four Great Dragons asked for my help." Naruto said, continuing to explain his arrival. "They told me that you all would be facing something they weren't sure you'd be able to handle on your own, it wasn't until later that I learned exactly what it is we'd be facing."

Rika felt a little insulted at having some Digimon she has never met judge her as being too weak to fight some unknown opponent, but because of them she was able to meet Naruto so she could let it go. "Who is it?" Rika asked instead, wanting to know the identity of the enemy they would be facing.

Instead of answering Naruto stood up, signaling that he would be back in a second, when he returned Naruto was carrying his laptop. Setting the red laptop down on the coffee table, Naruto opened it and proceeded to pull up Lucemon's data from the database.

"Lucemon," Naruto said simply.

The name drew silent gasps of horror from the others in the room. Renamon and Terriermon's eyes were almost wide with fear at the knowledge that they would be facing the child angel Digimon at some point, even Guilmon felt something in the pit in his stomach that for once he didn't associate with hunger. The Tamers weren't as familiar as their Digimon with how powerful Lucemon was, but like any true Digimon fan they had all researched the fallen angel. The Digimon that was stronger than Daemon, the only Digimon the original Digidestined couldn't defeat, and the leader of the Seven Great Demon Lords.

"We have to fight that guy?" Takato asked fearfully, he was suddenly feeling very grateful to the Four Great Dragons for sending Naruto to help them.

"Yeah," Naruto said seriously, "And Lucemon has already made a few moves." He finished, shocking the other Tamers and Digimon, and calling Patamon and Coronamon for the next part.

"How? When?" Henry questioned stupefied.

"Do you guys remember the Devidramon that Growlmon fought?" Naruto asked them back and got nods of confirmation from the others. "Do you remember what he said before the fight started?"

"No," Rika stated flatly. "How could anyone, he was on top of a skyscraper."

"Oh right," The blonde shinobi said sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Chakra enhanced hearing." Naruto continued. "Anyway he said he was searching for someone. I don't know who he was searching for, it could be one of us or somebody else entirely, though going by what Devimon said it seemed he was after me, but either way somebody must have sent him and I bet it was Lucemon." The cerulean eyed Tamer declared, "Which most likely means that Devimon and Ninjamon were also sent by him." He finished.

"Okay, so what was the second thing he did?" Rika enquired with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto let out a sigh as he looked down the floor momentarily. "The thing is I feel partially responsible for that." Naruto admitted before focusing his attention back to his guests. "To make sure that I didn't run out of kunai and shuriken, or if I needed any other type of ninja supply, a portal was created that connected to my old world and I would be able use my laptop to get whatever I needed."

"If," Rika began hesitatingly, "If these dragons could create a portal back to your world, why didn't you' use it to go back home?" The thought of Naruto leaving scared Rika more than she thought it would.

"The portal was unstable," Naruto answered. "Only none living things could go safely through the portal." He stated before locking his gaze solely with Rika. "Besides even if I could go back I don't think I would want to now." The sapphire eyed former Jinchuuriki finished looking into Rika's amethyst colored ones.

The others gazes shifted between the blonde to the redhead and back again, Naruto and Rika ignoring them, and the rest of the world, as they looked at one another.

"Um," Takato began a bit uncomfortably. "Should we leave the room to give you guys a moment alone?" The brunette finished, snapping Naruto and Rika out of their trance like state.

"Yeah, I don't think my stomach can handle watching you two make googly eyes at one another." Terriermon said teasingly. For once Henry didn't reprimand his Digimon, as he was too busy trying to keep the amused smile off his face.

"You know for some reason I'm suddenly in the mood for rabbit." Naruto remarked pleasantly yet with a dangerous smile on his face, which resulted in Terriermon scrambling to hide behind his Tamer's back. Rika agreed that rabbit definitely sounded good at the moment. "Anyway," The blonde continued after taking a moment to calm down, and Terriermon stopped hiding behind Henry. "It wasn't long after the portal was created that it suddenly disappeared. One of the Four Great Dragons contacted me when it disappeared; we think it was Lucemon who was responsible for whatever happened to it." The Konoha shinobi stated, before finishing in a whisper. "And I don't know what he's done with it." Naruto could only speculate what the angel Digimon did with the portal; he could have simply destroyed it or something else. It was the idea of what Lucemon could do with the portal if he hadn't destroyed it that worried Naruto the most.

"So what do we do?" Henry asked. Lucemon wasn't the kind of Digimon Henry wanted to try his chances with when it came to negotiating a peaceful solution, and if these Four Great Dragons thought they needed help then they obviously needed to prepare for what was to come.

Rika scoffed at the question. "We get ready to fight obviously." The redhead said bluntly.

"It's not that simple," Naruto said cutting in. "Lucemon isn't the only thing we have to worry about." He told them before continuing. "Azulongmon also warned me of Zhuqiaomon, a fellow Sovereign that looks over the Southern Quadrant of the Digital World, and the one that corresponds with us." What followed was a quick explanation of who the Sovereigns were and the four different quadrants of the Digital World. The explanation was helped by Renamon and Patamon, and to a lesser extent Terriermon and Coronamon.

"So what's the problem?" Takato ask confused and with a hint of curiosity. "I mean if he is one of the protectors of the Digital World doesn't that mean that he'd be helping us?"

The first one to say anything was Coronamon, "The problem." The small lion said with a snort. "Is that Zhuqiaomon is a crazy roasted chicken that hates anyone or anything that has anything to do with humans and the real world." Coronamon finished, as Naruto pulled up Zhuqiaomon's information from the data base and showed it to the Tamers.

"Couldn't put it better myself." Terriermon remarked jokingly as he laughed cheerfully, before Henry bopped him on top of his head. While Renamon and Patamon didn't disagree with how Coronamon described the Sovereign of the Southern Quadrant they wouldn't have used those exact words.

"Wow he does look kind of scary." Takato gulped once he saw an image of the phoenix like Digimon engulfed in intense flames on Naruto's laptop.

"According to Azulongmon because of Zhuqiaomon's hate he is searching for something called the Catalyst so he can use it to help Digivolve his followers and invade the real world." Naruto explained. Coronamon and Patamon already knew this fact so they weren't surprised by that bit of information, but Renamon and Terriermon were.

"Catalyst? What is that?" Rika asked curiously with a raised eyebrow.

"The Catalyst is also known as the Light of Digivolution." Renamon said from behind Rika drawing everyone's attention once more to her. "I've heard of it only once in passing. I didn't think it was true and just wrote it off as some story." The yellow furred kitsune Digimon admitted. "Supposedly the Catalyst is an ancient Digimon artifact that is responsible for a Digimon's ability to digivolve." She continued as she recalled what little she knew of the Catalyst.

"So we're expected to protect this Catalyst, whatever it is?" Rika questioned.

"Yes," Naruto answered, "But the Catalyst isn't an 'it' anymore, but a 'whom.'" He stated drawing confused looks from the other Tamers and Digimon. "Azulongmon turned the Catalyst into a Digimon, don't ask me how because I don't know, and he's currently in the other room." The blonde finished.

"Wha?" Rika began before she and the others registered exactly what Naruto was alluding to, "The creampuff?" The red haired Tamer said dubiously, and got a nod of confirmation from Naruto. "So basically we're going to be playing babysitters for the little runt." Rika stated her voice filled with indignation.

"It won't be that bad," Naruto said pacifyingly. "So far no Digimon have shown up looking for Calumon. I've also been able to convince him to stay here with the promise of delicious food and that Coronamon and Patamon will play any game he wants with him. I doubt the little guy will just stay here all day but at least I can keep some sort of track on him." The blonde shinobi explained. "Until a Digimon actually comes looking for him we just have to keep Calumon out of trouble."

"Somehow I don't think that's going to be all that easy." Takato murmured out loud.

"Hey Naruto," Henry spoke up, having been reading all the information on Zhuqiaomon that the database had to offer. "What exactly is this? How do you have this information?" The blue haired Tamer asked gesturing to the laptop. Now that Henry mentioned it the others were also curious about the information that Naruto had shown them, being momentarily overwhelmed by what Naruto had told them to pay it much attention.

"The laptop was a gift from the Four Great Dragons." Naruto replied, choosing not to tell them that it was a gift specifically from Megidramon so they could remain in contact, "With it I can create my own untraceable Digital Fields that I, along with Coronamon and Patamon, use to train." The cerulean eyed Tamer began, shocking the others with the fact that he could create his own personal Digital Fields, before continuing. "It also has a Digimon database on it with information on all known Digimon."

"No way?" Takato breathed disbelievingly.

Naruto smiled at them. "Give it a try." The shinobi offered nodding toward the laptop on the table.

For the next several minutes Rika, Takato, and Henry all looked up information any Digimon that they could think of. Even Terriermon amused himself for a while with looking up the data of some of his fellow Digimon, and of course he also searched for info on himself.

"Hey, how come there isn't more information on Guilmon?" Takato asked after entering his partner's name into the database and only finding info on his Rookie and Champion levels.

"I think it's because you created Guilmon." Naruto said honestly. "You're responsible for creating a new Digimon, so the data will only appear as Guilmon Digivolves." He finished without mentioning that if the Digital Hazard acted up the end result would see Guilmon Digivolving into Megidramon for his Mega level.

"If Guilmon is a new species of Digimon, how do you have information on him and Growlmon on your archives?" Henry questioned since Guilmon had only Digivolved into Growlmon a few weeks ago.

"The database updates itself whenever there is any new information on any Digimon." Naruto replied instantly. "My D-arc is also connected to this database unlike all of yours."

"What do you mean?" Rika asked curiously, and with a bit of impatience starting to appear in her voice.

"Remember when you used your D-arc on Guilmon the day we all met and you didn't get any information on him?" Naruto asked her instead and got a nod in return. "Watch this." The former Jinchuuriki said as he pulled out his D-arc and pointed it at Guilmon. Everyone saw how an image of Guilmon came up along with information on the red raptor.

"What the hell?" Rika muttered as she pulled out her white and blue D-arc and pointed it at Guilmon, who was looking at them confused. The picture of Guilmon appeared on Rika's D-arc, but unlike Naruto's that is all that appeared. "What the heck is wrong with this thing?" The amethyst eyed Tamer once more muttered angrily, and looked toward Naruto for an explanation.

"It's because my D-arc is linked to the database unlike yours." Naruto said, as Henry tried his D-arc on Guilmon and got the same result as Rika. "I might be able to do something with all of your D-arcs so they are connected to the database."

"That's great and all," Rika remarked, "But what are we going to do about Lucemon and Zhuqiaomon? If they are really sending Digimon after you and Calumon then we need to be prepared." The only female Tamer said seriously.

Naruto let out a sigh. "The most we could do now is train and have the Digimon become stronger so they're ready. I can help train Renamon, Terriermon, and Guilmon like I have been doing with Coronamon and Patamon." The Konoha shinobi offered.

"What about us?" Rika questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?" He asked tilting his head to the side.

"Are you going to teach us some of your ninja skills," Rika said, as she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him, though it came out sounding more like a demand.

"I can't," Naruto started.

"Why not?" Rika said challengingly. "Is there some sort of rule that says you can't?"

The blonde shinobi held his arms up in a sign of surrender in order to placate the irate redhead. "That's not it; it's just not possible for any of you to learn Ninjutsu." Naruto told her before explaining. "To learn jutsus a person first needs to learn how to mold and control their chakra at an early age. When we're younger a person's chakra coils haven't hardened yet, and with the right training they can be made to grow and expand which makes learning jutsu possible. Adult's chakra coils can't grow any larger, which makes it impossible for adults who haven't had training when they were younger to be shinobi. All of you have larger chakra coils than most civilians, which I think plays a part in you all being Tamers, but it's not enough to learn jutsus safely. I can probably teach some exercises to use what chakra you have to run faster and hit harder, but that's it." Naruto finished honestly.

"So what we're just going to stand on the sidelines while you, Renamon, and the others fight whichever Digimon comes after us." Rika said angrily as she balled up her fists in frustration.

"It's for your own safety." Naruto insisted.

"He's right Rika." Renamon said agreeing with Naruto's statement. "It's our jobs as your Digimon to protect you, not for you to put yourselves in danger by fighting rogue Digimon." The yellow kitsune said passively.

"But Whiskers is fighting alongside his Digimon." Rika pointed out. "He's fighting with Coronamon and Patamon."

"I've been trained to fight Rika, you haven't." Naruto said softly. "I'm more than strong enough to fight any Digimon."

"You got to admit Naruto has a point." Henry said looking at the red haired Tamer. "We can't do the things he can."

"It doesn't seem fair," Takato began somewhat sadly. "But what can we do?"

"You guys don't have to worry about it I can take care of myself." Naruto said reassuringly to all of them, but most of his attention was focused on Rika. "And I'll have the Digimon backing me up in any fight we get into, and you all backing them up." The blonde haired Kyuubi stated confidently. "And in the mean time I'll help train them so they can get even stronger."

Rika let out a resigned sigh. "Fine," She said coolly, still not happy with it. "So when do with start the training. And I'm going to want you to teach me those exercises you were talking about." The amethyst eyed teen said determinedly, and by the look in Rika's eye Naruto knew that there was no way he or anyone else would be able to convince her otherwise, with Henry and Takato also wanting Naruto to teach them.

"How about we talk about training later?" Naruto offered instead. "This is the first time we're all together like this without having to fight some Digimon, or each other." He added at the end grinning at Rika, who looked off to the side in a huff with a very light shade of pink on her cheeks. "Let's just hang out today and have fun. I'll order us some pizzas." It had been a few hours since Naruto had started his explanation and it was almost lunch time.

"Yay food!" Guilmon cheered instantly, happy that they were finally talking about something he was actually interested in.

"Extra cheese for me!" Terriermon declared, raising his paw from around Henry's shoulder.

"Pepperoni!" Coronamon and Patamon voted simultaneously with their own arms raised

Naruto chuckled at the four male Rookie's enthusiasm for food, before turning his attention to the Tamers. "Well what do you guys say?"

"Sure, it would be fun for all of us to hang out for a change." Takato said happily with a smile on his face.

"I don't see why not." Henry commented with a smile of his own.

Naruto turned to look at the only female Tamer and Digimon pair expectantly. "What?" Rika said challengingly arms crossed, though her defiant look was ruined when her stomach started to growl. In her rush to get to Naruto's apartment and have him explain himself Rika had skipped out on breakfast and was now quite hungry. "Fine I'll stay, but it's just because I have nothing better to do today." Rika declared rebelliously as she blushed lightly.

"Sure Ri-Chan." Naruto replied trying to hold back a laugh at how stubborn Rika was.

The rest of the day was spent eating pizza, watching T.V., playing some video games, and listening to Naruto tell stories about some of his adventures back in the Elemental Countries. While the Tamers knew that there would be tough times ahead they were happy to get the chance to spend a day relaxing and having fun like any normal teenagers. Even Rika silently admitted that she was enjoying herself. At the end of the day Rika, Henry, and Takato left their D-arcs with Naruto so he could upgrade them and connect them to the database through the use of the Digital Hazard, not that any of them knew that last part, with the promise to return it to them the next day.

* * *

For most of the following week the Tamers were busy with school that it wasn't until near the end that they were all able to meet again to discuss training. Naruto took them to the clearing where he trained with Coronamon and Patamon and set up his personal red tinted Digital Field.

"Whoa this is kind of weird." Takato said looking around at the strangely colored Digital Field.

"I know what you mean Takato." Henry agreed, after being used to the normal mist like Digital Fields, seeing a red one made it seem like the mist was made out of blood.

"Alright," Naruto began, drawing the Tamers and Digimon's attentions to him. "With the field set up we won't have to worry about anyone noticing us train or what affect it will have on the environment." The blonde shinobi stated.

"Why not?" Rika asked curiously.

"The Digital Field will return everything back to normal after it's taken down, and no attacks can exit the perimeter not even my jutsu." Naruto explained before turning his attention to the gathered Digimon. "We'll start your training the same way I did with Coronamon and Patamon by having you all spar with me one on one." He informed them. Normally the others would be worried for Naruto, but after seeing him fight against Icedevimon they were eased of some of their worries. Naruto then turned to the Tamers. "While they're doing that I'll have one of my Shadow Clones working with you to help improve your physical strength and speed." The shinobi of the Digital Hazard finished.

"What?" Takato said stupefied.

The grin that Naruto gave the three Tamers seemed different, scarier more predatory, than one he usually gave them. "What? You didn't think I was just going to let you three sit back and watch as the rest of us trained did you?" The blonde shinobi asked, though from the looks on their faces that's exactly what they thought. "Before you learn to use the little chakra that you have your body has to be able to deal with the stress it will be under, which means you all need to get stronger too. So get to it." Naruto finished as he created a Shadow Clone and had it lead them to a different part of the clearing they were in.

A couple of hours later found the Tamers and their Digimon exhausted after finishing their respective forms of training Henry, Terriermon, Takato, and Guilmon had no problem lying on the ground completely worn out. Meanwhile Rika and Renamon tried to look a bit more composed, but just as tired. Coronamon and Patamon had also been training, but they were far more used too Naruto's method of training, so while they were a bit tired it wasn't to the same level as the others.

"Well," Naruto said smiling amusedly. "I guess all things considered you all didn't do all that bad." He commented lightly.

"You're… crazy." Rika said breathlessly.

Naruto's smile became a bit sheepish. "Maybe just a bit," The former Jinchuuriki and now Kyuubi admitted. "But all shinobi eventually developed some kind of quirk. Most of my Senseis turned out to be perverts of some sort."

"And you?" Rika asked just a bit darkly.

"Ramen junkie," Patamon and Coronamon answered at the same time.

"Oi!"

Rika raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the two orange Digimon simultaneous responses. "I know that Whiskers likes ramen, but is it really that bad?" She asked ignoring Naruto's claim that there was nothing with the amount of ramen he ate.

Coronamon's snort of amusement made it clear how funny he found Rika's question; even Patamon seemed to be struggling to hold back his laughter. "He eats it nearly every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and it's always ten bowls or more of the stuff. The only time Naruto doesn't eat that much ramen is when he comes home during lunch from school, and even then he makes sure to have a few extra bowels once he does get back." Coronamon stated flatly.

Rika turned her focus to Naruto. "You're going to kill yourself eating all that ramen Whiskers." She told him accusingly with a deadpan look.

"Don't be ridiculous an all ramen diet is perfectly healthy." Naruto stated confidently while the others, even Guilmon, stared at him dubiously none of them blinking. "Anyway," The cerulean eyed Tamer continued after coughing into his hand. "You all didn't do too badly for your first day of training, but you can definitely get stronger. Once all of your physical abilities are stronger I'll be applying a weight seal to help with your training on all of you." The blonde shinobi said as he looked at his fellow Tamers to make sure they understood that they would also have the seal applied to them.

"Weight Seal?" Henry asked, as he and the others started to pick themselves up off the ground.

"The weight seal, or gravity seal, is a seal that was designed to help train a person's natural strength and speed. It affects the weight felt applied to your body making it harder to move around strengthening your muscles." Naruto explained. "I'm not applying the seal now because I don't think your bodies could handle the strain they would be put under even if it was just for a few minutes. Coronamon and Patamon are just about ready to have it applied to them, but I think I'll put it off until everyone can get it." The former Konoha ninja finished, unknowingly relieving his two partners that their training regimen wouldn't be getting any harder for the moment.

"So what are we going to do now?" Rika questioned.

"I think we're pretty much done with training for the day. We'll finish by trying to get you, Henry, and Takato to summon your chakra. This won't be easy and I don't expect you guys to get it right away or at all today, but it's something you all can work on in your spare time." Naruto told them before he taught them the Ram hand sign and what they were trying to accomplish.

While the Tamers were doing that Naruto had Coronamon and Patamon work with the other Digimon on their attacks. Renamon had to make her Diamond Storm attack stronger while also reducing the time required to fire her attack, if possible fire a single shard that could pierce Digimon that had stronger skin. Terriermon had to make his Bunny Blast stronger as well, firing a single sphere instead of multiple smaller ones that had less power behind them; Guilmon had to fire his Pyro Sphere faster.

* * *

When Naruto called training for the day the Tamers and their partner Digimon were surprised to learn the last ability of the red colored Digital Field allowed for time distortion, so while a few hours passed during their training only an hour and half had passed in the real world.

With their training done Naruto decided to walk Rika home, Coronamon and Patamon going back to the apartment on their own.

"So what did you think of the training?" Naruto asked his red haired companion from the corner of his eye with his hands behind his head.

"Painful," Rika replied just a bit sore from the day's training, "And frustrating." She added. Like Naruto said none of the Tamers had managed to draw out their chakra, but this fact just made Rika angry. "How did you manage to sit still when you were learning this crap?" The female Tamer asked looking at her friend wryly; somehow she couldn't imagine seeing Naruto sitting still for long periods of time in order to summon his charka.

One of Naruto's hands dropped to his side while the other rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "It wasn't easy at first." Naruto revealed. "It took me the longest to summon my chakra in my entire class, but that was mostly because of how impatient I was and how I just got more frustrated when I couldn't get it right, right away." He didn't tell her that the sensei had purposely tried to sabotage him by not telling Naruto everything. "But once I calmed down it became a lot easier, it even turned out I had a whole lot more than anyone else. Still it takes an academy student about a week to summon their chakra and draw more of it out each time they do practice." Naruto told her. "So relax you'll get it eventually." The second Kyuubi reassured her.

"Whatever, if you say so," Rika said indifferently though she was still a little frustrated. "What about Renamon and the others? How was their training?"

"Today really was more of an assessment." Naruto answered honestly. "Either way in the spar Renamon gave me the most trouble; she's fast and skilled at hand to hand combat."

"Of course, she is my partner after all." Rika stated proudly.

"Yes, yes Ri-Chan is awesome." Naruto said jokingly with an amused smile, as he dodged a swipe from the redhead. "Anyway Renamon might be the most skilled out of the three of them, but Guilmon has the most raw power. He just doesn't know how to use it and is hesitant to really attack me, which is kind of surprising for a Virus type. Terriermon is somewhere in between Renamon and Guilmon, more skilled in fighting than Guilmon but not as much as Renamon. He doesn't have the same level of power as Guilmon but is more ready to fight." The sapphire eyed shinobi explained.

"What about when compared to Coronamon and Patamon?" Rika asked having noticed how he left his own partners out.

"Coronamon and Patamon might be just a bit better than Renamon, though they're at their best when fighting together." Naruto told her, he knew that eventually he would have to work with them on fighting on their own and not depend on each other. "They also don't have as much raw power as Guilmon, but they do know how to make their attacks stronger."

"Like that Oodama Corona Flame." Rika said rather than asked.

"Yeah," Naruto replied nodding his head. "That attack is something Coronamon created after seeing my Oodama Rasengan once during training. And that defense Patamon used during his and Coronamon's fight against Devimon is something based off another jutsu called Kaiten or Rotation, it belonged to a clan called Hyuuga and was called an Ultimate Defense." The cerulean eyed Tamer added.

"Really?" Rika said a bit skeptically. "It didn't look all that strong."

"It's because of the attack that Devimon used." Naruto defended, "For attacks like Coronamon's Corona Flame and Renamon's Diamond Storm, Patamon's defense would work just fine and the attacks would bounce off. But for attacks like Devimon's Death Hand or Kyuubimon's Dragon Wheel, Patamon's Slamming Attack would eventually be overwhelmed." He explained. "I'll see what I can do to fix that."

The two grew quiet after that as they got closer to Rika's home. The silence only became more profound and awkward when both teens remembered what had happened the last time the two of them stood outside of the redhead's home.

"So, uh, I'll see you later." Naruto began a little nervously, before he turned to leave.

"Hold on a second Whiskers," Rika said, grabbing the blonde teen's arm keeping him from leaving. "Are you keeping any other secrets from me?" She asked. Rika really wanted to ask him about the kiss on the cheek he had given her, but instead chose to ask something else she had been wondering about. She was still a bit unsure if she really wanted to talk about the kiss.

While Naruto was relieved that Rika didn't ask him about the kiss, because he really hadn't thought about why he had done it himself, her question wasn't all that much better. With a sigh Naruto said, "I told you before that we all have our secrets Ri-Chan."

"So what? You don't trust us enough to tell us what else you're hiding?" Rika asked a bit of anger entering her voice. So after everything he was still not telling them, and more specifically her, everything.

"It's not that I don't trust you Ri-Chan, in fact I trust you guys as much as I do anyone from back home." Naruto started placating her. "It's just that there' are something things that aren't easy for me to talk about and others that I'm not allowed to tell you, yet." He finished.

That last part made Rika curious. "What do you mean you aren't allowed?" She questioned him.

Naruto thought it over for a second as he tried to determine exactly just how much he could actually tell her without giving anything away. "One of the Four Great Dragons gave me an extra mission that I am to keep to myself for as long as possible."

"And you can't tell me what this 'mission' is." Rika said rather than asked.

"No, I can't." Naruto confirmed. "But I can tell you that right now all I'm doing is keeping my eye on things." The blonde shinobi divulged.

"Fine," Rika eventually said reluctantly. If Naruto really couldn't tell her anything more then she would just have to accept it and help him when he needed it, for now. Just because he couldn't tell her didn't mean that she couldn't try and figure out what that so called "mission" was. "I'll see you later Fishcake." The redhead said as she entered her home, once more trying to quell the thoughts in her head about the kiss that Naruto had given her on the cheek, though she did glance back at the blonde shinobi with a bit of desire to relive the experience.

"Yeah, later Ri-Chan," Naruto said relieved on the inside that Rika had accepted not knowing at the moment as the door closed behind the amethyst eyed girl. Of course she would probably be a bit angry with him for keeping things from her, so he would have to find some way to make it up to her. For a second Naruto just stood outside the gate to Rika's home before leaving and making his way to his home.

* * *

A few nights later Takato and Guilmon managed to track down a newly bioemerged Digimon to an underground parking lot where they found a black flame lizard like Digimon with golden colored claws and helmet on its head. Takato, standing across from the Digimon along with Guilmon, had already scanned the Digimon with his D-arc and learned that it was Darklizardmon a Champion level Digimon.

"Ready Guilmon?" Takato asked his partner Digimon and getting a growl from Guilmon in return, "Digi-Modify… MetalGarurumon's Blaster Activate!" The brunette Tamer said slashing a card through his D-arc.

"Metal Blaster!" Guilmon shouted releasing the power he acquired from the modify card and fired it at Darklizardmon, causing the black fire lizard to fall to the ground in a heap.

Takato lets out a sigh of relief believing that the battle had been decided. "Darklizardmon was one tough cookie, but you did it." Takato said congratulating his partner for a job well done.

Guilmon turned his attention to his Tamer at the mention of food. "Mm, did you say cookie?"

"I can't believe you're thinking of food right now." Takato murmured in exasperation, baffled by his Digimon's seemingly one track mind. Suddenly a helicopter appeared at the entrance of the parking lot shining a bright light that almost blinds Takato and Guilmon. "Huh? What's going on?" The red eyed Tamer asked no one in particular as he shielded his face from the light and winds that the helicopter was producing.

"Are we supposed to fight them Takato?" Guilmon asked his Tamer, looking at Takato in confusion unsure what to do in the current situation.

"No, I mean I have no idea. Maybe we should scram before we find out." Takato said hastily, but before the pair could do anything they heard a voice that they didn't expect coming from in front of them.

"No, I want to stay." Darklizardmon said in a distinctively female voice, as she slowly picked herself up off the ground. "Make me stronger, make me digivolve!" The fire Digimon finished desperately. Takato watches Darklizardmon stand up in astonishment, and a bit of fear, unable to believe that the dark Digimon was still able get back up.

From the helicopter two canisters were thrown into the parking lot releasing clouds of smoke, obscuring everything from view.

"Takatomon where are you?" Guilmon asked having lost sight of his Tamer.

Takato was looking around frantically being able to hear his Digimon's voice coming from in front of him but not able to see the red raptor. "Guilmon, where are you? Guilmon?!" Takato called out to his partner. The smoke cleared a little and Takato could see a shadowed figure, but any hope that the brunette had that he had found his partner turned to dread when he realized that it was Darklizardmon standing in front of him and not Guilmon.

"Please!" Darklizardmon begs desperately taking a step toward Takato frightening him, only for the dark lizard to be shot by the guns on the helicopter that sent her back to the ground.

"You okay?" Guilmon asked, the smoke having been blown away enough to reveal him standing in front of his Tamer, looking at Takato with concern.

"Uh huh," Takato answered still shaking slightly in fright.

Walking into the parking lot was Yamaki a large shadow being cast by the light coming from the helicopter. Yamaki continued to walk into the parking lot until he stood between Takato and Guilmon and the Darklizardmon. "Well aren't you going to thank me?" Yamaki asked Takato, as he turned to face Takato and Guilmon, completely unconcerned with the Digimon that was now behind him "After all I did just save your life. That deserves something." He said as if stating an obvious fact.

"Huh!?" Takato muttered confused not having gotten his head around everything that happened in an instant.

"This is dangerous work little boy, shouldn't you be napping?" Yamaki continued in a condescending tone of voice.

"W-who are you?" Takato asked him instead, even as he started to recognize the man that stood in front of him as the same man that Henry and he had come across some days ago, though he still didn't know who he was.

"I'll ask the questions here." Yamaki replied sharply, as scientists in hazard suits and Special Forces dressed in black with guns and their faces hidden entered the parking lot. "Who do you think you are attacking Digimon on your own? Do you think this is a game?" The blonde man in a suit asked rhetorically, as he signed something given to him by one of the scientists. "They are lethal creatures, who should be contained." He continued. "In fact, for your safety, I should take your little red friend there too." Yamaki finished nonchalantly while looking at Guilmon.

"Leave him alone!" Takato shouted, coming to the defense of his partner Digimon. "He's nothing like Darklizardmon!"

Yamaki scoffed at the brunette's claim, "Hm, so young, so naive." He said almost shaking his head in disappointment.

"Who are you calling naive?!" Takato yelled offended, only to watch in shock as Darklizardmon moved slightly and groaned in pain proving that she was still alive. "I don't believe it, she's still alive." The Virus Tamer said in awe, after taking on Guilmon's attack and being shot at, Takato was sure that Darklizardmon was done for.

The scientists left as the Special Forces came forward and fired nets at Darklizardmon trapping her. "And dangerous," Yamaki commented snidely. "Maybe I should take your friend, he could become dangerous too." The blonde haired man, that wore sunglasses even at night, added thoughtfully.

Takato moved to stand in front of Guilmon with his arms spread wide. "No! You'll have to go through me!" He stated determinedly.

"Well," Yamaki continued not looking at all impressed by Takato's declaration. "Probably more trouble than he's worth, right?" He said indifferently as he started to walk away. "Don't say I didn't warn you, little boy." Yamaki finished with a dark chuckle, as he took Darklizardmon with him.

"Who was that guy?" Takato muttered to himself. "And why does everyone I meet keep calling me a little boy?" He finished in a dejected mumble with his head hung over.

* * *

_Hypnos_

Within Hypnos Yamaki was inside an elevator that took him to the research lab where Darklizardmon was being held.

'_Those clueless Tamers and their digimon, so oblivious to what I'm cooking up in my little lab,'_ Yamaki thought as he stepped out of the elevator into a large room with many different computers and other large equipment, with scientists scattered around looking over the equipment. At the very center of the room there was a giant tank that was part of the floor with a bridge going over it; inside the tank was the unconscious body of Darklizardmon._ 'They'll find out soon enough and they'll be surprised.'_ He finished his thought by looking down at the tank from the bridge at Darklizardmon.

"What is this place?" Darklizardmon asked as she started to wake up. "Let me out! I don't want to go back!" The black flame Digimon shouted desperately, her body too weak to move.

"Sir, uh we're ready to initiate the data scan, but the creature may not survive." One of the scientists beside Yamaki said hesitatingly.

"Huh, you say that as if I should care." Yamaki said with cold indifference. "It's not as though that thing down there is flesh and blood, you know."

"Excuse me sir," The scientist persisted. "But it has a real body, it's a life form." He insisted not being able to believe that anyone could be so cold to another life form even if it wasn't flesh and blood.

"A worm is more of a life form than this thing." Yamaki replied with the same cold indifference in his voice before continuing. "They're just packets of data, computer code, zero's and one's. Their ability to appear in our world is a fluke, but our monstrous friend here is not without its use. By analyzing its data we can learn how Digimon are created and how they can be destroyed." The blonde man said logically. "Proceed with the scan, I want full power." Yamaki ordered a seconded scientist that stood beside a nearby machine.

"Yes sir." The second scientist said with a bit of resignation in his voice.

"Oh! No! Let me out of here!" Darklizardmon begged frantically.

Yamaki ignored the Digimon's cries, as the other people in the room did their best to tune them out. The process of obtaining the digital abomination's data would take a while, but if it meant acquiring all the data possible to learn how to keep those things from entering the real world then Yamaki wasn't about to rush the process and endanger the information they were going to collect. Moving back to the elevator Yamaki left the instructions to call him once the scan on Darklizardmon was finished.

With one final click of his lighter the screams of Darklizardmon were cut off as the elevator doors closed behind Yamaki.

* * *

The next day Rika was making her way to the park. Takato had called her earlier at her home to tell her they needed to meet at Guilmon's shed. He hadn't told her what was so important, but he had told her that he had already called Naruto and Henry and they agreed to meet, so she was currently making her way there to see what was so important.

"Rika!" The sudden cheer of her name caused the redheaded Tamer to stop mid-step, that along with the unexpected appeareance of Calumon who jumped towards her with his face right next to hers. "Eskimo kisses!" Small white and purple Digimon cried happily as he rubbed his nose against Rika's.

"Calumon, what are you doing here?" Rika asked with a groan, as she grabbed the in-training Digimon and pried him off her face. "Isn't Fishcake supposed to be taking care of you?"

"Let's play?!" Calumon requested ignoring Rika's question, causing the amethyst eyed redhead to let out a tired sigh, though before she could say anything more someone else called out to Rika from behind her.

"Rika, sweetheart, is that you? I'm so happy to see you!" The voice of Rumiko Nonaka called out to her daughter from behind her.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" Rika asked turning around with Calumon in her arms.

"What a day," Rumiko said with a tired sigh. "We had a photo shoot, but before we could start all these people showed up and started asking me questions. In the end it was decided that the shoot would just have to wait for another day." The blonde haired woman explained. "But enough about me, what are you doing today?"

"Uh, nothing, I'm just going to meet up with some of my friends in the park." Rika answered a bit uneasy.

"Oh," Rumiko said interestedly with a sly smile appearing on her face. "Does that mean that you're going to meet up with Naruto-Kun?" Rika was reluctant to answer her mother this time, but her silence was more than enough for Rumiko. "I'm happy to see that you and Naruto-Kun are getting along so well Rika. I heard from your Grandmother that Naruto-Kun even took you out on a date, how was that like? Was it totally romantic?" Rumiko continued to question her daughter a blush appearing on the younger girl's face.

"It wasn't a date." Rika insisted embarrassed.

"If you say so dear," Rumiko conveyed in a tone that said she didn't believe her daughter, the same tone her grandmother used whenever Seiko brought up Rika's outing with Naruto and Rika denied it being a date. "By the way," Rumiko continued, looking down at Calumon that was being held in Rika's arms. "That toy is absolutely adorable!" The mother said gleefully with a sparkle in her eye.

Rika looked down at Calumon who was staring back at her, without Rumiko noticing. "You just had to be cute." Rika mumbled quietly to the Digimon, who just looked up at her cutely as if to emphasize her point.

"I'm so glad that you have finally taken an interest in cute things Rika." Rumiko said with a happy smile. "I have a few new dresses that I would love for you to try on." The blonde haired mother added.

Rika started to panic a little at the thought of being forced to wear even more dresses with even more frills on them. "No you got it all it all wrong." Rika said hurriedly as she tried to think up some excurse. "I just got this thing because of, uh, a science project from school." The redhead thought up quickly. "We're supposed to test the effect of gravity on small objects, so I'm going to throw this over a bridge." Rika was sorely tempted to do that to the small white and purple Digimon at the moment.

"Oh?" Rumiko asked questioningly tilting her head to the side. "Then what about the fox plushy that your Grandmother told me Naruto got for you?"

Rika blushed lightly, she had thought that no one knew that she had kept Naruto's gift and that it was currently hidden somewhere in her room. "That's nothing," Rika claimed. "After Fishcake got me the stupid thing I was going to throw it away, but I decided to wait until he forgets about it so that way he won't be able to complain when I do." She said, with what she hoped was a good enough excuse for her mother. Out of the corner of her eye Rika did notice how a crowd started to gather around her and her mother, and from what she could tell they were all fans of her mother.

"Is that so?" Rumiko said in an amused tone, not noticing the gathering crowd. The blonde model never thought she would actually see the day when her daughter was actually interested in a boy. And until her daughter actually admits it Rumiko can tease her daughter about her first crush. "But still for you to keep it at all means that you must really like Naruto-Kun, right?" She questioned her daughter.

At this point Rika started to slowly back away from her mother as the older Nonaka's fans drew closer. The blush on Rika's face darkened at her mother's question but she refused to answer. Calumon just giggled at how silly Rika was being, she and Naruto were friends so of course she liked him. Luckily Rika was saved from having to answer because at that moment Rumiko's fans decided to surround the oblivious model giving Rika the chance to make a hasty retreat.

* * *

Rika eventually was able to make her way to Guilmon's she, where the other Tamers' and their Digimon were waiting for her, with Calumon still in her arms. The moment she entered the surprisingly spacious concrete shed Rika tossed the giggling In-Training Digimon at Naruto. "Here you should keep a better eye on him." Rika told him with a light glare, as Renamon appeared behind her.

"Calumon?" Naruto said looking down at the still laughing green eyed Digimon.

"Hi," Calumon replied with a cheerful smile, his ears enlarging due to his happiness. "Can we play?"

"Uh not right now," The blonde shinobi answered, causing Calumon's ears to shrink and give Naruto a pout.

Calumon's disappointment didn't last very long when he spotted Guilmon, jumping out of Naruto's grasp and his ears enlarging once more the Catalyst glided over toward the red raptor Digimon, "Guilmon!" Calumon shouted joyfully.

"Calumon!" Guilmon returned just as jubilantly as the two Digimon started to play with one another, Terriermon and Patamon soon joining them.

Naruto smiled at the sight of the four Digimon playing with one another, his smile only grew bigger when he noticed how Coronamon was trying to be serious about Takato suddenly calling a meeting, but kept glancing toward his fellow Digimon. "Alright," Naruto began getting everyone's attention, as he focused his attention on Takato. "Why did you call us here Takato?" The cerulean eyed shinobi asked the brunette focusing everyone's attention on him.

"Well," Takato started before he proceeded to tell everyone about his and Guilmon's strange meeting with a blonde man in a dark suit and glasses and how he took the Darklizardmon that the Tamer and Digimon pair had been fighting to some unknown place. Henry then proceeded to tell Rika and Naruto about how he and Takato had met the man before on some random street before losing him.

"Yamaki," Naruto muttered softly drawing the Tamers' focus to him.

"What?" Rika questioned confused.

"The guy's name is Yamaki." Naruto reiterated. "I've met him a couple of times before." He admitted.

"And you didn't think to tell us this before?" Rika asked incredulously, "That there is some guy out there hunting Digimon?" She finished indignantly while Takato and Henry looked at Naruto curiously. The redhead was seriously getting tired of all the secrets that the blonde was keeping.

Naruto let out a sigh before replying. "The first time that I met Yamaki was the day after we all met for the first time." The former Jinchuuriki informed them. "At the time he and a few scientists were looking around the area where you had Renamon fight Guilmon."

Rika remembered that day it was also the day that she had met Naruto for the first time.

"I didn't get much out of Yamaki besides that he was interested in Digimon, and even then that was only speculation since he didn't give anything away." Naruto continued as he recalled his first meeting with Yamaki. "The second time I met him it was to tell me the same thing that he's told Takato and Henry, and that he had seen us during Growlmon's fight with Devidramon." He stated. The cerulean eyed Tamer decided to keep to himself that Yamaki had some of his men follow him.

Rika continued to look at Naruto intently trying to decide if his excuses for not telling them sooner were good enough before she nodded her head in acceptance.

"So what are we going to do?" Takato asked, "If this guy really is hunting Digimon then that means that Guilmon and the others aren't safe." The crimson eyed Tamer pointed out.

"Right now we should focus on all of yours' training and making sure you're ready for anything." Naruto replied steadily. "In the mean time I'll also see what it is that Yamaki did with the Darklizardmon Guilmon' fought last night."

"How are you going to do that?" Henry asked curiously.

A smirk appeared on Naruto's face. "You forget that I'm a ninja, I've been trained to get in and out of places without anyone knowing." Naruto explained, though what the others didn't know was that Naruto planned to use the Digital Hazard in order to gather information.

"Don't do anything dangerous." Rika said in warning.

Naruto waved it off, "Don't worry they won't even know I was there." He promised and then turned to face Takato a mischievous grin on his face, a grin that frightened the brown haired Tamer a bit, as Naruto threw an arm around Takato's shoulder. "Now what's this I hear about Jeri passing you a note during class, was she asking you out or something?" The blonde Tamer asked teasingly.

"Way to go Takato!" Terriermon cheered, having heard that last part, from beside the other Digimon who were now all looking at Takato. "You're the man!" The rabbit Digimon declared, giving the Virus Tamer a thumbs up, while Guilmon just looked on confused as to the proceedings. Henry just chuckled at his friend's flustered face already knowing about Takato's not so secret crush on the girl who carried around a dog puppet wherever she went.

"It's not like that!" Takato protested shaking his head in denial, though a part of him wished that it was true. "She was giving me a picture of Guilmon that she drew." He stated, pulling out said picture from his pocket to show everyone. The drawing was of a more childish looking Guilmon wearing a white t-shirt with a smiley face on it and blue shorts.

The Tamers and their Digimon all stared at the drawing stoically without giving anything away on what they thought of the drawing of the red dinosaur Digimon.

"I look cute, don't I Takatomon?" Guilmon asked his Tamer breaking the silence.

"Let's not start that again Guilmon." Takato replied exasperated. The one thing Takato regretted about introducing Jeri to Guilmon was the fact that she insisted in calling his super badass Digimon cute. Guilmon was not cute!

Naruto tore his eyes away to look at Takato. "You told Jeri about Guilmon?" He asked Takato ominously.

"Uh, well I, uh." Takato spluttered.

"Did you tell anyone else?" Naruto continued just as seriously, Henry and Rika now looking at Takato waiting for his answer.

Takato became more nervous once he realized that everyone was staring at him expectantly, "Uh, Kazu and Kenta?" His statement came out sounding like a question, as if unsure himself if he had given the right answer.

"Are you stupid goggle-head?" Rika asked rhetorically, because she was sure that he was. "How are we supposed to keep our Digimon secret if you go around and babble it to everyone you know?"

"I didn't tell everyone." Takato defended lamely. "And Kazu and Kenta didn't even get a good look at Guilmon before they ran away screaming." He added.

Naruto laughed at the image that he imagined of the two boys running away. "Then did you at least tell Jeri not to tell anyone else?" Naruto questioned his fellow Tamer.

"Uh, I might have mentioned it." The brunette replied with an unsure smile. Truthfully he couldn't remember if he did or didn't, but decided it was best that the others weren't aware of that little fact.

Naruto sighed mentally the way Takato was acting the blonde shinobi was sure that the Virus Tamer had not even mentioned keeping Guilmon secret from everyone else, he'd just have to hope that Jeri was better at keeping secrets than Takato was. "Right," Naruto said dubiously. "We might as well train a bit since we're all here," He decided, getting groans of complaint from everyone which he ignored. "I want to start working with all the Digimon's Champion levels as well, so they're training isn't limited just to their Rookie forms."

With that the others reluctantly agreed, while they all wanted to get stronger Naruto's training was insane.

* * *

Later that night Naruto sat in his room in front of his laptop. After Naruto finished the other's training they all spent some time hanging out before they went back to their respective homes, Naruto with the intent of figuring out what exactly Yamaki was planning. It still amazed him just how powerful the Digital Hazard was, even if it was a small fraction of it, and his control over it in the last few weeks had developed so far that Naruto hack into other computers without anyone realizing it. He had already hacked into a few low-risk places as practice, nothing overly important, just to make sure he didn't make a mistake. But with the Digital Hazard it was almost too easy as Naruto could easily slip pass any firewall no matter how good the security was.

The most challenging part would be trying to figure out the location of the place he would virtually be breaking into. Though that problem was solved thanks to Yamaki himself when he told Naruto that he had seen the blonde Tamer and the others during the fight with Devidramon, which meant he was in one of the surrounding buildings. After that it just came down to taking a quick scan all the computers in the surrounding buildings where Naruto, well technically his clone, and the others were standing for anything relating to Digimon. Naruto's search resulted in him hacking into the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, otherwise known as Hypnos, computer system.

"Aright Yamaki let's see what you're up to." Naruto muttered to himself, his left hand placed on the laptop to act as a medium as he used the Digital Hazard, as he looked through all the files Hypnos possessed, all the information being particularly downloaded into Naruto's mind.

* * *

_Hypnos_

Yamaki walked back into the computer lab where Darklizardmon was being with a satisfied smirk on his face, and an almost completely unnoticeable skip to his step. A few minutes ago he had received word from the scientist he left in charge, that the process of scanning Darklizardmon was almost completed and Yamaki wanted to be there to witness it himself in person.

"Progress report," Yamaki said in a commanding tone, as he walked to the bridge that was above the tank that contained Darklizardmon.

"Sir," One of the scientists that Yamaki was speaking to the last time he was there greeted the man formally before continuing, "The scanning process is almost completed a few more seconds and we will have obtained all of its data." For hours the man, and everyone in the room, had to bear with the Digital Monster's screams of torturous pain before falling unconscious from the overload only to wake up hours later and repeat the process. After listening to the poor creatures cries for so long the scientist, and several others realized, how inhumane they were being toward it. "Its particles are dissipating." The scientist informed Yamaki softly, hoping that his boss would show the dark fire lizard some mercy and order them to end the scan in order to stop Darklizardmon's suffering now that the Digimon was so close to death, even though he knew how futile his hope was.

"Don't stop until we have all of its data!" Yamaki ordered coldly looking down at the Digimon that even now was struggling to stay alive. "We're only steps from achieving our ultimate goal." He stated unemotionally.

"No!" Darklizardmon cried out one final time before her body burst into bits of leftover data.

"It's gone." The scientist said sorrowfully.

"Its data hasn't disappeared though," A second scientist said from the readings he was getting, "Just the body. Should I save the data?" He asked looking toward Yamaki for an answer.

"I don't see the point," Yamaki replied indifferently. "We got all the information we needed from the scanning procedure, eliminate anything that's left."

"Wh-what?" The second scientist said stupefied, almost wanting to argue against Yamaki's order, but the glare he received from him instantly changed the man's mind. "Uh yes sir, destroying all particles now." The scientist said as he imputed the command that would destroy the remaining data.

Yamaki watched as the tank that had contained Darklizardmon glowed blue and the data was destroyed. Turning toward the scientists Yamaki noticed their forlorn looks as they gazed down at the tanks. "Get used to it," He told them. "We'll scan as many of these abominations as we have to till they're all gone." Yamaki declared determinedly as he left the room.

Entering his office Yamaki sat at his desk and turned on his personal computer that contained all the information collected on Digimon and the Digital world, the data gathered from Darklizardmon already archived on his computer. Looking over the new data Yamaki was happy to see that with it he would be able to get his Juggernaut project developed and ready to use against the digital abominations and keep them from ever coming into the real world again.

Juggernaut was his greatest creation and he had finally gotten permission from those fools that called themselves his superiors to use it. They couldn't even begin to understand to what measures one must be willing to take if they wanted to stop all Digimon, and that meant destroying the Digital World itself if necessary.

* * *

_Naruto's Apartment_

After hacking into the Hypnos computer system Naruto could freely admit that he was disappointed by what he found, or lack thereof. Most of the information on Digimon that the government agency had gathered were things that he had already known, the existence of Digimon, how they were appearing in the real world, some little information on him and his fellow Tamers, basic things like names and home addresses, and even how a team of scientists had created the Digimon some years ago.

What Naruto didn't know about was the veil between the real world and the digital one. How that very veil was weakening, which allowed more and more Digimon to appear in the Human World that were also slowly growing stronger. The last piece of information that Naruto discovered, that had caught him by surprise, was that one the scientist names was Janyu Wong. Naruto wasn't sure if that was the name of Henry's father or not because the blue haired Tamer had never mentioned him by name, but it seemed like too big of a coincidence for it just to be a fluke.

Then Naruto proceeded to look for why Yamaki decided to take Darklizardmon back to Hypnos. What he found could be summed up in one word.

Juggernaut

The program was something that Yamaki created to fight against Digimon and keep them from appearing in the real world. All that the older blonde man needed to complete it was the data of a live Digimon in order for the destroyer program to know what to seek out. Just from looking at Juggernaut's code Naruto could tell how powerful and effective the thing was. If Yamaki activated it then Coronamon, Patamon, the other Tamer Digimon, and Calumon were in danger.

"Looks like I have no choice." Naruto muttered to himself, as the Digital Hazard shined a bit brighter. "Digital Hazard: Data Corruption." Hacking into Hypnos' system wouldn't be enough to alert anyone about what he was doing, not with the Digital Hazard, but now that Naruto was actively going to affect the system it would impossible for an alarm not to be raised within the building. But if Juggernaut proved to be as dangerous as the shinobi thought it would be than the former Jinchuuriki would need time to come up with something to counteract it to keep the Digimon safe.

The Data Corruption would give Naruto the time to do just that. Effectively Naruto had just planted a whole bunch of bugs into the Hypnos' Computer System, and all of it was centered around' Juggernaut. The shinobi Tamer would have used Data Destruction on Juggernaut and completely destroyed it from the system, but Naruto was sure that Yamaki would have his prized program backed-up, and probably had a back-up for his back-up. This way they, Yamaki and everyone working for him, would be forced to try and get rid of the bugs in their system or the bugs will stop any attempt to do otherwise.

* * *

_Hypnos_

The smirk that Yamaki had on his face as he made the final adjustments on the Juggernaut program was wiped off his face he saw the symbol that had appeared in the monitoring room the day of the digital anomaly, the one that was made of three triangles surrounding a circle with a fourth triangle inside of it, suddenly appeared on his computer. The symbol flashed on his screen as electricity seemed to arch off it. Behind it Yamaki could see that his precious hard created Juggernaut's code was being warped and distorted, certain pieces being rearranged, another part of the code having more added to it making it useless, and other parts of its code being completely removed.

His phone ringing forced Yamaki to tear his eyes away from his computer screen. "What!" The infuriated blonde snapped, as he tried to keep what he realized must be a virus from causing more damage only to see that all his attempts were proving to be useless.

"Sir we have a situation." Riley's voiced replied, not at all bothered by how her boss answered. In the background Yamaki could just barely make out the sounds of furious typing on keyboard, no doubt whatever was affecting his computer were also affecting all the computers inside of Hypnos. "Something is attacking the system, it looks like a virus! Everything is being infected and at the rate its going it won't be long before we're completely shut down."

"I can see that." Yamaki muttered more to himself rather than Riley, as he brought up diagnostics on the entire Hypnos computer network. He silently cursed when he realized that what Riley said was true. "What about the anti-virus software?" Yamaki asked hastily.

"None of it seems to be working. Whatever this is has bypassed all our security." Riley replied, all but given up hope on stopping whatever was happening. "It will take weeks to fix everything." She finished with a sigh.

"Damn it!" Yamaki shouted as he slammed his hands down on his desk. Weeks, his plans were derailed by weeks! Yamaki glared at the symbol that still flashed across his computer screen, he didn't know what that thing was but he did know that whoever was behind it was to blame. And Yamaki was going to find out who it was.

* * *

**AN: That's it for now. Originally this was going to be longer, covering the fight with Mihiramon, but I decided that it was long enough as it was even though I've written longer chapters before. To compensate for not including Mihiramon in this chapter he will be in the next chapter along with Sandiramon, so chapter 13 will deal with two Devas' making it twice as action packed. I will get started on that chapter right away and have it posted as soon as possible. After that I'm going to be working on my Naruto/Code Geass crossover story again and after that I'm not sure.**

**Oh, about the part of Tamers not learning any jutsu I have something planned that everyone will have to wait to see.**

**Now please remember to review.**


	13. A Juggernaut, a Tiger, and a Snake

**AN: Alright like I promised I started writing this the very next day, or rather later that day since I posted the last chapter at about 1 or 2 in the morning.**

**AN2: I just finished writing this chapter and I can't believe that I actually did it under a month, it still took me 20 days but that is 11 days less than it normally takes me. Anyway this has so much action in it that I hope it makes up for the lack of action in the last chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do ****NOT**** own Naruto, Digimon, or anything else that may appear in this Fic.**

**Dreams are wonderful and cruel things. While asleep there is nothing we can't do or have, but once we wake the next morning all those wonderful things are ripped away and we are forced to face reality.**

* * *

A Juggernaut, a Tiger, and a Snake

Lion vs. Tiger, Who is Strongest?

"Talking"  
_'Thinking'_  
**"Megidramon"  
(Author Notes)**

It had been several weeks since Naruto infected the Hypnos' computer systems with the Digital Hazard's Data Corruption, and in that time both him and Yamaki had been very busy. The latter had been busy getting Hypnos back up and running. Yamaki had almost been fired when his superiors learned about what happened, it was only the fact that there had been nothing anyone could do to stop it that saved him from losing his job.

The former was busy creating something that would counter act the effects of Juggernaut so that the Tamers' Digimon wouldn't be destroyed by the deadly program. After a week and a half of work, and with the help of the Digital Hazard, Naruto was able to come up with a counter program of his own that would prevent Patamon, Coronamon, and the others from falling victim to Juggernaut. The next challenge came in trying to figure out how to enter the new counter program in the digital make-up of the Digimon's highly complex code, without accidentally messing anything up and causing undue harm to the Digimon. Luckily Naruto had all the time he needed to apply it to Coronamon and Patamon, though he had to forcefully subdue Renamon, Guilmon, and Terriermon in a spar so he could safely apply it without revealing anything. Calumon, as it turned out, didn't need the counter program added to his code because his was different enough from being the Catalyst of Digivolution turned Digimon that Juggernaut wouldn't affect him.

Once he was able to create the counter program Naruto focused back on everyone's training, the Tamers and their Digimon improving greatly over the last few weeks. The Digimon were managing to perform their attacks better with an increase in both speed and power, which also included when the Digimon digivolved to Champion as Naruto had them practice their attacks and do a modified versions of their training regimens. The Tamers had learned to summon the moderate amount of chakra that they possessed, when they managed to do that all three Tamers were immensely proud of themselves, especially Rika who had put in the most amount of effort into mastering the exercise and was able to summon her chakra before the other two Tamers. With that part of the training done Naruto then went on to teach them the first level of chakra control, Leaf Balancing, to say the least none of the Tamers found that very interesting. After that the blonde shinobi taught them how to channel chakra to different part of their body, what effects that would have on them and how to control it.

After learning about Juggernaut Naruto made sure to tell the other Tamers about it the day after he infected Hypnos' computer network. The Tamers and their Digimon were understandably worried about the Digimon destroying computer program, it was only Naruto's reassurance that he had sabotaged Juggernaut from working properly for the foreseeable future that calmed them down and allowed them to focus on their training.

* * *

_Hypnos_

Inside Hypnos Riley and Tally were within one of the many rooms of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, this one was exceptionally large as it housed a giant machine that had many cables leading from it to varies' computers. Standing not so far away was Yamaki looking at the machine almost reverently with his lighter in hand, for once not messing with it as he was too busy staring at the machine. The top half of the machine was dome shaped with computer terminals underneath it, this machine was Juggernaut and what would rid the world of the digital menace once and for all. Ever since Hypnos was infected by the mysterious virus they, along with everyone else who worked in the building, were forced to work long hours for several days to get everything back up and running. Today marked the last day of system repairs and the two analysts found themselves with the rare opportunity, in the last few weeks, to relax.

"Hey Riley, what do you think that is?" Tally asked gesturing to the machine with the cup of coffee she held in her hand, it being the only reason that she managed to stay awake' most days.

"Hm..." Riley hummed distractedly while she checked appearance in the mirror inside her compact, she was in no way vain but even she grew concerned with the way she looked after getting very little sleep in the last few days. "Well whatever it is it isn't pretty." She said factually.

"We sure didn't get authorization for this." Tally continued, a bit of uneasiness in her voice, as she stared up at the machine. The way that her boss was staring at the thing wasn't exactly helping with things.

"Yamaki does what he wants," Riley commented dismissively, not sharing the same concerns as her partner. "If I were you I wouldn't ask too many questions. Just know all his projects mean bad news for somebody." The long haired woman finished knowingly. Riley had worked for and with Yamaki far longer than Tally had so she knew the blonde man better than her coworker did, it was part of the reason that there were so many rumors about them.

Yamaki stared intently at Juggernaut with a stratified smirk on his face. _'Finally,'_ Yamaki thought to himself, _'After being set back by weeks Juggernaut is fully operational! Soon all those damn abominations will be nothing but an unpleasant memory.'_ "Riley, Tally, let's go!" Yamaki called Riley and Tally over so that they could head toward the observation floor, so that the second phase of the plan could begin.

Once they reached the observation room with its dome like ceiling Riley and Tally immediately made their way toward their seats and started the final preparations, as the chairs made their way off the ground to hang in midair.

"Operation Juggernaut, initiated." A scientist said as he entered the final commands to start Juggernaut.

From her chair Riley was looking things over and noticed the information that she was receiving. "I'm getting an abnormal reading." Riley said out loud. "Sir, is this all part of the project we're testing, the Juggernaut?" She asked her boss somewhat anxiously.

Tally pouted a little. Didn't Riley just tell her not too long ago about asking questions? And it actually looked like Yamaki was going to answer her. It was just another aspect of their unique relationship that added fuel to the fire about the rumors that surrounded them, and which convinced Tally that there was more between them then either was willing to admit.

"Yes," Yamaki answered, just like both women knew he would whenever Riley asked him something. "But it's nothing to be concerned about; we're just giving it a test run." He said somewhat reassuringly. "Using data from the Digimon we've captured I've constructed a Digimon composite to act as bait. Instead of us hunting for them, they'll come to us." The blonde government agent informed them, as beams of blue light started to appear on the monitor covered ceiling and reflected off the people in the room.

"You're brilliant, sir." Tally found herself unconsciously saying, staring at the blue beams of light almost hypnotically.

Yamaki flipped his lighter open and then close. "Well that's your first accurate observation." He said just a bit smugly and with an arrogant smirk, as he headed toward the exit.

From the top of Hypnos a giant beam of light reached up to the sky above the building, rings of energy forming from the ray of light.

"Operation Juggernaut activated." Yamaki could hear a scientist say from his earpiece. "Data stream dispatched; projected response immediate."

As he stood outside, looking up toward the sky, an image of Juggernaut was on Yamaki's com-device. _'Those Digimon won't know what hit them. Let's see the kiddies deal with this.'_ Yamaki thought.

* * *

_Guilmon's shed_

Inside Guilmon's shed the Virus Tamer and Digimon were spending the last few hours of the day relaxing, while Takato thought up new card combos and Guilmon stuffed his face with bread. On that note Naruto's goal to convert Guilmon to the glory that is ramen was not going well. Takato was cut off from explaining one of his new ideas when the ground started to shake.

"An earthquake?" Takato asked out loud as he and Guilmon shakily made their way to the shed's entrance. The brown haired Tamer let out a gasp once he noticed a tower of light and the rings it was producing in the sky. "Whoa," He said in both awe and fear.

"Takato," Guilmon muttered from beside his partner, his voice sounding oddly serious, as he stared straight out ahead but not necessarily at what was in front of him. "Something's coming. A Digimon and it's really big." The raptor Digimon told his Tamer.

Takato didn't like the sound off that, especially since it would most likely be up to him and the others to deal with whatever Digimon was heading their way. With a sigh Takato stepped out of the shed. "We should get going then, come on Guilmon." The brunette said back to the red dinosaur Digimon.

* * *

_Henry's Apartment_

Henry was enjoying having an early dinner with his family, laughing lightly when his father joked that they were having fried frog or pickled pig feet. Though he had to quickly excuse himself from the table when he heard sounds coming from his room, with the claim that he had must have forgotten to turn his computer off, Henry made his way to his room to discover the true cause for the noise.

"Terriermon, what's up with all' the racket?" Henry asked the rabbit Digimon who was standing by the window in his room.

"Uh, Henry you might want to take a look at this." Terriermon replied without looking away from the window.

Slightly confused by the way that Terriermon was acting Henry walked over to stand behind him and looked out the window. What he saw made his mouth drop open, from the city a blue beam of light reached up to the sky, almost like it was dividing the sky itself in half, and at the apex rings of the same light were spreading out in a manner similar to dropping a stone into a body of water.

"What the hell is that?" Henry gaped at the tower of light he could see in the distance. Even as he asked that something in the back of his mind told Henry that the cause of the strange phenomenon was most likely the Juggernaut that Naruto had told them about.

"I don't know but it isn't good." Terriermon said, "I can feel something coming." The small cream colored bunny Digimon finished.

"Let's go." Henry said seriously, scooping up Terriermon and leaving his room.

* * *

_Nonaka Residence_

Rika and Renamon were sitting just outside of the redhead's room reminiscing about how different things are now from what they used to be. There greater connection to one another, Rika not being as cold or indifferent as she was before, her lack of desire to make fun of Takato and Henry and their Digimon, and even her budding feelings for Naruto and the kiss on the cheek the blonde shinobi had given her. That last part Rika only told Renamon once she made the yellow furred kitsune promise never to speak about it to anyone.

The two were sitting in a comfortable silence when Renamon's fur suddenly bristled and she stood up startling Rika, spinning around Renamon jumped up onto the roof to stare at the city a beam of light stretching high into the sky. Rushing from where she was sitting Rika looked up toward her partner.

"Renamon, what is it?" Rika asked, being unable to see the tower of light from where she was standing.

"I'm not sure." Renamon replied uneasily without looking back at Rika. "I can sense a Digimon coming, and it's very powerful." The Kitsune stated.

Rika looked at her Digimon with eyes widened slightly; if she didn't know any better the amethyst eyed Tamer would have thought that Renamon sounded nervous about the Digimon, "How strong?" The redhead found herself asking.

"I'm not sure." Renamon answered.

'_Perfect.'_ Rika thought to herself as she entered her room to retrieve her D-arc and cards. "Well we might as well get going. Fishcake and the others are probably on their way as well." Rika said to Renamon, who had appeared inside the redhead's room after Rika, and got a nod from the digital kitsune.

* * *

_Naruto's Apartment_

Naruto was on his laptop in his room working on one of the books that he was going to have published when the Digital Hazard started to pulse erratically and sting his hand slightly, the last time it had hurt him, the blonde shinobi Tamer recalled, was when Guilmon was taken during the flood tunnel incident. He didn't have time to think it over when Coronamon and Patamon rushed into the room looking a bit distressed.

"Naruto!" Coronamon said loudly. "We have a huge situation!"

"What is it?" Naruto asked as he tried to sooth the slight sting in his hand.

"A powerful Digimon is coming." Patamon replied.

"And something is going on with the sky." Coronamon continued, "There is huge beam of light in the sky. It's on all the news channels!" The small lion claimed.

"Yamaki," Naruto said in a growl, he was sure that the older blonde was somehow responsible for what was going on. Grabbing his things Naruto threw on his dark orange and black jacket as he headed towards the door. "Let's get going then." The shinobi said to his two partner Digimon that following behind him.

* * *

Out in the busy streets of Shinjuku, Calumon was running for his little life. "Leave me alone!" He shouted, as he looked back at the one following revealing it to be Impmon. Sadly his momentary distraction caused him to trip and fall forward. Turning over Calumon stared up at the purple Virus Digimon, who had conjured a single small flame over one of his red gloved fingers. "What do you want from me, you big bully?" Calumon demanded, his voice sounding a bit angry.

"Nothing pally," Impmon said with a vicious smirk, "Just your data." The white faced Digimon finished. Though before he could execute his attack on the small green eyed Digimon he was knocked off his feet by someone. "Hey what's the big idea, huh?!" Impmon shouted, rubbing the back of his head where he had hit his head on the pavement. He scowled when he noticed that it was Naruto, with his Patamon on top of his head as usual. "Oh, it's you." Impmon muttered unhappily.

"You have to learn how to stay out of trouble Calumon." Naruto chided the white and purple Digimon, not that Calumon seemed to be listening to him from the happy expression that appeared on his face the moment he saw the cerulean eyed shinobi. "And you," He continued turning his gaze toward Impmon. "You shouldn't be picking on Calumon, Makeupmon." The shinobi finished reproachfully.

A tick mark appeared on the top of Impmon's head. "Who are you calling Makeupmon, you pointy haired whisker faced bastard?!" Impmon roared indignantly, as he stood up with his fists balled. None of the people surrounding the Digimon and Tamer listened, or reacted at all, to Impmon because they were all looking up towards the sky something the imp Digimon noticed. "What's the matter?" He asked confused as turned to look at what everyone was staring at.

The sky seemed to be looking worse with every passing minute, as above Hypnos' twin towers a dark red colored vortex seemed to form.

Naruto was about to continue on his way toward Hypnos when he suddenly heard a familiar voice coming up from behind him, "Whiskers!" Naruto heard Rika's voice shout. Turning to look over his shoulder, Naruto watched as Rika made her way through the gaping crowd towards him. "Move out of my way!" Rika ordered; shoving passed another group of people who were transfixed with looking at the sky. "What the hell is going on?" She questioned him once she made it to his side.

Though before Naruto could answer, Calumon jumped at the redhead with a happy cry of, "Rika!" His ears fully extended so he glided smoothly through air, and forcing Rika to hold him to keep him away from her face.

The amethyst eyed Tamer blinked a couple of times at the Light of Digivolution unexpected appearance, "Calumon?" Rika questioned confused not having noticed him, before she refocused on what was going on and looked at Naruto expectantly.

"It's Yamaki's Juggernaut." Naruto answered her previous question.

"What?" Rika gasped in surprise. "I thought you took care of that thing?" She said a bit accusingly as she stared up at what was happening in the sky a bit worriedly. "Are Renamon and the others going to be okay?"

"I was able to sabotage it for a while, but it looks like Yamaki's has had enough time to fix it." Naruto replied staring up at the vortex that had formed in the sky. Looking carefully Naruto noticed that small pieces of debris were floating near the area. "Since it doesn't seem to affecting these three I'm guessing that Juggernaut isn't at 100% and Yamaki rushed its repair." The blonde Tamer continued, hiding the real reason why it wasn't working on Patamon and Calumon, though he wondered why Impmon didn't seem to be affected. "Either way we have to stop that thing before it causes anymore problems, I'm going on ahead." Naruto said.

"Wait!" Rika exclaimed only to curse when Naruto disappeared right in front of her, "Damn it." At the speed Naruto was currently moving no human would be able to keep track of him. Looking down at Calumon, who she was still holding, Rika decided to take him with her. After all if he really was this catalyst that helped Digimon digivolve then he could be helpful if the Digimon that Renamon seemed worried about was as strong as the fox Digimon thought it was.

* * *

Standing on a bridge outside Hypnos, Yamaki looked up at the sky almost proudly. "Goodbye." Yamaki said taking his sunglasses off for the first time revealing his dark brown eyes, his com-device in hand still displaying an image of Juggernaut. "Beasts of mayhem, time to go away. The world will soon be free of this hideous pestilence forever." He continued chuckling darkly before he noticed Takato and Guilmon making their way to the bridge he was standing on. "Well look who's come to marvel at my brilliance." The blonde man in the dark suit finished smugly, putting his sunglasses back on.

"Hurry, we're almost there!" Takato shouted to his partner once they reached the bridge.

"Bout time," Guilmon said, thankful for the training Naruto gave them since he wasn't tired at all from the sprint he and his Tamer took, as they had ran from the park all the way there. Whatever relief the red raptor felt disappeared when the shadowed form of a wild Digimon flew by him and his Tamer and was sucked into the vortex, before being deleted right in front of their eyes.

"What's happening?" Takato asked as another Digimon flew by them. "They're all leaving; it's like some huge Digimon vacuum cleaner." The brunette Tamer stated naively. He remembered what Naruto told him and the other Tamers about the Digimon destroying program. What he was currently seeing happening before him, the anguish screams of the Digimon that were being pulled in, definitely seemed to be the work of the Juggernaut program. Takato saw Yamaki standing across from him on the bridge, "Why are you doing this?" Takato asked him.

"We had no other choice." Yamaki replied evenly as he took a couple of steps towards Takato.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Takato questioned him confused.

"Let's just say we're controlling an infestation, all vermin must go." The blonde agent stated in cold indifference.

"But you can't just destroy all the digimon," Takato said in a desperate attempt to reason with the man. "Guilmon's my best friend."

Yamaki moved closer to the Tamer and Digimon pair until he was standing beside them, "Really, this foul beast?" Yamaki said with a scoff, as he tried to place his hand on Guilmon only for the red raptor to growl at him, "Hm, you naive little boy." Yamaki continued pulling his hand back. "This thing isn't capable of friendship. It's nothing more than a dangerous artificial life form." It was at that point that Yamaki saw something on Guilmon's chest, something he hadn't seen the last time he had met the duo. A symbol, the same symbol that had brought Hypnos down weeks ago and almost got him fired. "It was you." Yamaki growled darkly.

"What?" Takato asked, freaked out by the man's sudden change in demeanor, as he took an uncertain step away from the blonde male.

"You and you're little pet were the ones responsible for that virus, weren't you?" Yamaki accused the Tamer and Digimon.

"I have no idea of what you're talking about." Takato denied honestly.

"Don't lie to me!" Yamaki yelled, seconds away from attacking the brunette. "I recognize that symbol on that thing's chest. It's the same one that appeared on all the computers of Hypnos weeks ago."

"That," Takato said looking toward the Digital Hazard symbol that was on Guilmon's chest, not that he knew what it really was, "That's nothing it's just something I added at the last second." The crimson eyed Tamer claimed.

"There is no point in lying I know the truth." Yamaki said almost hysterically, as he reached to grab Takato.

But before he could land a single finger on the brunette Naruto appeared between them, glaring at Yamaki his eyes glowing ominously. "That's enough." Naruto said seriously. "Leave now."

While a bit unnerved with the younger blonde's sudden appeareance Yamaki didn't let it show, "Or what?" Yamaki replied challengingly.

A smirk appeared on Naruto's face. "Or I'll kick your ass." He answered.

Yamaki scoffed in some false sense of bravado. "You think I'm afraid of you?"

"You should be." Naruto returned, "And if not me then you should probably be afraid of my friend here." The blonde shinobi finished gesturing to the red Virus Digimon, whose yellows eyes were dilated until the pupils looked like slits and was growling menacingly at Yamaki.

Seeing the situation he was in Yamaki made the wise decision and chose to leave rather than risk being attacked by Naruto and Guilmon. "Fine this is just a waste of my time. Now that Juggernaut is fully operational it will only be a matter of time before all these abominations are gone forever." Yamaki said as he turned and made his way towards the far end of the bridge. Though what none of them expected was for at that precise moment a blue beam of condensed waving energy to come down from the vortex

"Takato its coming," Guilmon said, his pupils still dilated as he gazed up at the vortex.

"He's right." Coronamon said, having landed and stood beside Naruto when the blonde shinobi first appeared. "I can feel it, the Digimon, it has almost crossed through." The orange lion Digimon stated with Patamon nodding in agreement, both orange furred Digimon staring at the vortex far above them.

Yamaki stopped at the end of the bridge the moment he saw the beam of energy come from the vortex, when his ear piece started to beep.

"An anomaly has infiltrated the Juggernaut!" Riley's voice immediately came through hastily the moment Yamaki answered. "It's coming through the vortex!" She informed Yamaki.

"What?!" Yamaki muttered disbelievingly, looking down at his com-device Yamaki saw that what Riley said was true and something was coming through the vortex that Juggernaut had created. "But, but that's impossible! This program is flawless, I designed it myself! Nothing can get through there! This cannot be happening! What have I done!?" The blonde agent shouted with an angst-ridden cry.

Naruto was only half listening to what Yamaki was talking about as he watched the sky seemingly rip in half, with the digital plane being clearly visible through the tear. And just as the sun finally set Naruto and the others watched as a Digital Field covered Hypnos completely. With his enhanced hearing Naruto could also hear a voice coming over Yamaki's com-link.

"Humans created us," The voice of the unknown Digimon started. "But now we are free! The time has come to claim our place in the real world! You have but one purpose to serve the Digimon!" The Digimon claimed.

"No, you're wrong!" Yamaki denied staring up at the tear, "Who are you?!" He demanded to know.

The Digimon just laughed off Yamaki's demand to know his identity, "I am only a representative of those who are to be your masters!" The Digimon answered.

"Ugh, I can't let you do this!" Yamaki said frantically, "I will never be a servant to any of you data scum!"

The Digimon once more laughed at Yamaki, "It's because of you that all this happened." The Digimon pointed out. "I should thank you. You have opened the portal to the real world for all of us."

"Alright that's enough waiting around." Naruto decided, "We should get moving and stop whoever that is before things get worse." The blonde shinobi stated, getting sounds of agreement from his fellow Tamer and their Digimon. With that said the group of five made their way towards Hypnos, ignoring Yamaki's delusional mutterings.

* * *

Not too long later Henry and Terriermon were finally close to where the Digital Field had appeared when they saw Yamaki ahead of them walking towards them. A second after they passed each other the two stop.

"You," Yamaki muttered as he turned around.

"Yeah me," Henry replied turning around to face the blonde man. "What do you want?" The half-Chinese Tamer just got done asking his question when Yamaki grabbed a hold of his shirt, inadvertently knocking Terriermon off his perch from Henry's shoulder.

"It's your fault!" Yamaki claimed angrily.

"Huh?" Terriermon uttered, a bit disoriented from his fall, before taking note of Yamaki's hold on Henry. "Leave him alone!"

Not even a second later Yamaki felt a fist impact the side of his head, knocking him down and releasing his hold on Henry. Looking up Yamaki didn't expect the person to have it him to be a redheaded girl he immediately recognized as Rika Nonaka, another one of the supposedly Digimon Tamers, or that her punch was strong enough to almost dislocate his jaw. Behind her Yamaki could see two other Digimon, one was floating in the air and the other looked like a yellow furred fox.

"So you're Yamaki." Rika said rather than asked.

Yamaki picked himself up off the ground, "I'm just wasting my time hear. You all aren't worth it." He said before walking away, "You ignorant Digimon loving freaks!" The Hypnos Agent muttered. "You and your disgusting pets, now look what you've done!" They heard him say before he disappeared from their line of sights.

"That was definitely rude." Terriermon said with his hand on his hips.

Henry definitely agreed with his partner. "Thanks for the help." Henry said to Rika after Yamaki had left. "I think you almost knocked out a couple of his teeth." The bluenette observed.

"No problem," Rika replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "And too bad for him he was the one who had to suffer from some misplaced aggression. You see there is this other blonde I really want to punch some time, but I can never actually hit him." Naruto was her best friend, and maybe something more, but damn if he didn't annoy her sometime.

"Okay," Henry said unsurely. If Naruto and Rika really did get together Henry couldn't help but think that they would have one weird relationship. "You ready?" He asked her instead, turning toward the Digital Field, Terriermon climbing back onto his shoulder.

"Yeah," Rika replied. "Whiskers already went on ahead, so he is probably already there." The redhead informed the Vaccine Tamer.

* * *

At the base of the Hypnos building Naruto, Takato, and their Digimon were looking up to the building's roof, already determining that, that was where the unknown Digimon was.

"We have to get up there." Takato said as he made to move forward.

"Wait," Naruto said holding him back. Takato was about to ask him why when Renamon dashed by all of them and quickly climbed up the building. "Nice of you three to join us," Naruto continued once Rika, Henry, and Terriermon arrived.

"Yeah, well, we all aren't supper fast like you." Rika replied bringing out her D-arc, the screen showing her exactly what Renamon was seeing. "Besides that we meet this bastard you might know and I just had to punch him." She told him with a smirk on her face.

"Nice to know you are putting my training to such good use." Naruto said back with a smirk of his own.

"So what's up?" Takato asked Rika.

"Not you." Rika replied carelessly.

"I meant up there." Takato specified a bit exasperated with Rika's response. Rika was a lot nicer from when Takato had first met her, but Rika was still Rika and sometimes she would still treat him and Henry a bit coldly. The only ones that she always seemed friendly, at least, with were Naruto and Renamon.

"So did I, now be quiet." Rika told him, staring intently at her D-arc.

On the rooftop of Hypnos Renamon landed in a crouch ready to move if the Digimon attacked her the moment she landed. After not being instantly attacked Renamon took a quick survey of the rooftop, _'Where are you?'_ Renamon thought as she continued to look around.

Back on the ground Rika was growing annoyed with not being able to find the Digimon that had come through. She was about to voice her displeasure when she finally saw something. "There you are. But why am I not receiving any data? Hey Fishcake I thought you said you made this thing better, why isn't it showing me anything on this Digimon?" Rika had just gotten through with asking her question when the arrows on the screen of her D-arc started to spin rapidly. When the arrows stopped spinning a proper image of the Digimon appeared.

The Digimon was a yellow furred tiger with purple stripes going up and down its body, with a white underside, and a pair of wings coming out of its back that ended with pure white feathers. Around its neck was a red scarf, purple arm braces attached to its front and back legs, and on the thigh of its legs were violet round shields with a single spike coming out of their center. A large red scarf was worn around its neck. Its eyes were a blood red with white pupils.

"Mihiramon," Rika began to read before her face paled slightly at the next part. "An Ultimate level Data Type Digimon," She said a bit shakily. "He is one of the twelve Deva, a group of Digimon that work for the Four Digimon Sovereigns. His attacks are Samurai Tiger Tail, Armored Tiger Tail, a stronger version of his Samurai Tiger Tail, and Tiger Wing Blades." The redhead finished reading.

"An Ultimate," Takato said shocked. "We have to get up there and help her."

"Wait, don't." Naruto spoke up once more, stopping Takato and this time Henry and their Digimon as well, from doing anything.

"What? Why?" Takato questioned him. "Renamon is strong but even she can't take on an Ultimate level Digimon by herself, even if she does Digivolve to Kyuubimon." The crimson eyed brown haired Tamer pointed out. And though she didn't want to admit it Rika had to agree with Takato on that one.

"And I didn't say she would have to." Naruto replied steadily before continuing. "But there isn't much room up there, sending Growl and Gargomon would only make things worse. It would be better if Coronamon and Patamon digivolved and go instead, they would be able to fight from the air." The cerulean eyed shinobi said, gaining looks of understanding from the others. Seeing that they agreed with his plan Naruto focused his attention on Rika. "Are you ready?" He asked her, pulling out a card from his deck holder.

"Ready," Rika replied, pulling out her own card.

"Digi-Modify," Both Tamers said slashing the cards they held through their D-arcs. "Digivolution Activate!"

DIGIVOLUTION

"Renamon digivolve to… Kyuubimon!"

"Patamon digivolve to… Angemon!"

"Coronamon digivolve to… Firamon!"

Coronamon and Patamon had been running towards the Tokyo Metropolitan Building when they were both encased in orange digi-egg like constructs. When they reemerged both Digimon were now in their Champion forms and soaring up to the top of the building.

"So, shall I start things off?" Kyuubimon said, after coming out of a digi-egg made of crisscrossing blue data strands, as she spread her nine tails out wide, "Fox Tail Inferno!" The yellow furred quadruped fox called, summoning ghostly flames to light all nine of her tails.

Mihiramon wasn't overly concerned about the Champion level Digimon's attack, he knew that he was strong enough to survive the attack and fast enough to dodge it if he wanted. What the tiger Deva hadn't expected was the sudden appearance of two more Digimon, an Angemon and a Firamon.

"Fire Bomb," Firamon shouted channeling his power into the flame located on his forehead before firing it at Mihiramon.

"Omni Typhoon!" Angemon continued with his own attack, the hurricane he created with his staff combining with the other two Champion Digimon's attacks creating a flaming hurricane heading straight for Mihiramon.

The Ultimate level Digimon jumped over the incoming triple attack; once more while he was sure about his chances of survival he was also sure that the attack would be strong enough to cause some damage. Mihiramon flew above the attack a bit shakily the heat and winds being generated by the attack causing him to be unsteady in his ability to fly. Looking ahead of him Mihiramon saw a pale blue flamed dragon heading towards him.

"Dragon Wheel!" Kyuubimon's voice came from within the fire dragon.

Mihiramon once more moved out of the way of the incoming attack and watched it sail past him, he was taken by surprise when instead of dissipating once it touched the ground the dragon redirected itself and went back towards him. This time prepared for it Mihiramon called out the name of his own attack, "Samurai Tiger Tail!" The tiger roared its tail transforming into a three sectioned staff, also known as "Tiger Rod" or "Bao-Bang," that Mihiramon swung at Kyuubimon's Dragon Wheel the three section staff slicing through the flames and hit Kyuubimon, destroying the rest of the pale blue flamed dragon.

Kyuubimon landed in a heap on the building's roof, the Dragon Wheel had taken a majority of the force behind the Samurai Tiger Tail out and with Naruto's training Kyuubimon managed to withstand the remaining power in the attack. But she would still need a moment to recover completely.

A smirk appeared on Mihiramon's feline face as he stared down at Kyuubimon's wounded form. Hearing something coming behind him Mihiramon turned around to see Angemon coming at him with his own staff raised ready to strike the Data type Digimon. "Samurai Tiger Tail." Mihiramon said, once more transforming his tail into its weapon form before proceeding to wrap it around Angemon's golden staff and rip it out of the Angel Digimon's hands.

Undettered Angemon cocked his fist back, gathering holy energy into it, before unleashing it. "Hand of Faith!" Angemon shouted firing the energy he gahtered in a single punch aimed at Mihiramon. The attack moved to fast for Mihiramon to dodge it and it impacted with the tiger Digimon's chest causing him to growl in some pain and discomfrot. Mihiramon glared at the angel Digimon, but a shout from behind him drew his attention momentarily away from Angemon.

"Fire Claw!" Firamon roared, his claws on fire as he slashed at his tiger counter part.

Mihiramon managed to dodge the first few swipes of Firamon's Fire Claw before counterattacking. "Samurai Tiger Tail!" The Deva shouted breaking Firamon's stride and slamming his Bao-Bang into the Lion Digimon's chin. With a vicious fanged grin Mihiramon pressed his attack, "Armored Tiger Tail!" Mihiramon's tail transformed once more the tip of its three sectioned staff becoming sharp and pointed as spikes appeared out of it, before he slammed it into Firamon's chest causing the fire lion to roar out in pain.

With the Tamers Naruto suddenly grabbed his chest, in the same place that Firamon had been struck, as he grunted in pain.

"What's wrong Whiskers?" Rika asked in some clear concern for her cerulean eyed friend when she noticed him grab his chest and grunt painfully.

"I felt that last attack." Naruto replied, as he held his D-arc, that up until a few seconds ago was split in half to show what both Angemon and Firamon were seeing. Now it showed Angemon looking down at Firamon from the sky.

"What? How is that possible?" Takato asked, having heard the Naruto's response.

"Don't know." Naruto muttered as he straitened himself out, "But we should finish this as soon as possible."

Back on the rooftop Mihiramon still had a malicious fanged grin on his face as he moved to deliver the finishing blow on Firamon. "Samurai Tiger Tail!" The tiger Deva roared victiorious, only for his presumed victory to be cut short by Angemon.

"Angel Rod," Angemon said slamming his retrieved staff between Firamon and Mihiramon's attack.

"Why you little…" Mihiramon growled out.

"Now don't forget about me." Kyuubimon's voice said tauntingly. Looking over toward the source of the voice Mihiramon saw that Kyuubimon was in her stance for her Fox Tail Inferno attack. Kyuubimon could see the arrogant smirk that Mihiramon wore, so sure of himself that he knew what was coming and that it wouldn't hurt him. Kyuubimon's tails ignited in their ghostly pale blue flames, but then those flames moved and gathered in front of the kitsune condensing into a small sphere, "Fox Tail Imari!" Kyuubimon cried unleashing the attack with tremendous force. Fox Tail Imari was something that Kyuubimon was developing with the help of Naruto over the last few weeks of training. The blonde shinobi had told the digital fox how the Imari, or Bijuudama, was the ultimate attack of the Bijuu of his former home world. And while her attack was powerful, very much more than her Fox Tail Inferno and maybe her Dragon Wheel, it was nowhere near perfected as there was a very real chance it would blow up in her face. But they were already one Digimon down and fighting an Ultimate level Digimon, so Kyuubimon was willing to risk it.

At first Mihiramon didn't react to the attack because he was sure of what would happen, and then he didn't do anything because he became curious when he noticed that the fox Digimon was compressing her attack into a small sphere. By the time he knew he needed to move and get out of the way of the attack's trajectory it had already been too late. The attack moved far faster than he had expected and when it hit him Mihiramon couldn't help the roar of pain that escaped his mouth. When the blast finally dissipated it revealed a Mihiramon with its fur and armor scorched, but no worse for wear.

"You insolent," Mihiramon muttered, "Samurai Tiger Tail!" He snarled swinging his tail wildly at the vixen Digimon faster than either she or Angemon could react. While Kyuubimon had become stronger from Naruto's training there was only so much she could take, so with one final blow she was tossed over the edge of the building. Angemon moved to help the falling Digimon, but Mihiramon got between him and Kyuubimon, "Oh no you' don't Tiger Wing Blades!" Slamming his Bao-Bang on the ground Mihiramon created shockwaves that headed in Angemon's direction and knocked him off his feet. And while the angel was picking himself up the tiger came in with his Samurai Tiger Tail, reverting the Champion level Digimon back to Patamon.

On the ground the Tamers and the remaining Digimon watched as Kyuubimon was thrown off the roof before she' De-Digivolved back into Renamon, her form still.

"Renamon," Rika murmured worriedly for her partner.

"I've got her." Naruto said panting; he had felt the attacks that Angemon had suffered just seconds ago, as dashed towards the Hypnos building before running up it vertically with the application of chakra to the soles of his feet. In a matter of seconds Naruto had reached Renamon's descending height, jumping off the building the shinobi grabbed the unconscious kitsune in midair. When they reached the ground Naruto landed smoothly, having infused his limbs with chakra to absorb the force of the impact, and laid Renamon down gently where she was immediately surrounded by Rika and the others.

"Renamon," Rika muttered again as she stared at the wounds her Digimon suffered.

"She'll be fine." Naruto reassured her, "Her injuries are bad, but they're nothing a Digimon can't survive through." Digimon were far sturdier than other living creatures being able to recover from wounds others might find fatal. It was why Firamon hadn't been deleted when Mihiramon pierced him with his Armored Tiger Tail, he was hurt but it wasn't anything he couldn't survive.

"We should send Guilmon and Terriermon up there now." Takato said tearing his eyes away from the sight of the beaten Renamon.

"Not yet." Naruto replied.

"What?" Henry said incredulously. "Renamon and Patamon can't fight anymore and Firamon is seriously hurt." The blue haired said indignantly. At that moment they all heard helicopters above them. Looking up they saw a couple of choppers open fire on Mihiramon. "Guns won't stop him; it'll take something a lot stronger than that." Henry finished grimly.

On the rooftop Mihiramon just laughed as the bullets had absolutely no effect on him. "Pathetic humans you cannot stop me. Your time is at an end!" The Deva claimed smugly.

"You all are underestimating what my Digimon and I can do." Naruto said with a confident grin his eyes shining with determination, as he pulled a card out of his deck holster. "We're not done yet, are we Firamon?" On the rooftop Firamon picked himself off the ground with a growl as he glared at Mihiramon, who hadn't spotted the lion Digimon getting back up. "Let's show that Hello Kitty reject why the lion is considered the King!" The sapphire eyed shinobi said the card he was holding turning into the fabled Blue Card the others told him they all received before becoming Digimon Tamers. "Digi-Modify… Matrix Digivolution Activate!" The whiskered Tamer finished slashing the card through his D-arc.

From beside the blonde Tamer Calumon's Zero Unit started to shine brightly, _'Crystal Matrix Activate!'_

MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION

"Firamon digivolve to… Flaremon!"

Firamon's Ultimate level was revealed from a blinding white light. Flaremon for the most part looked exactly like Firamon with a few key differences. The most notable being Flaremon's lack of wings, that he stood on two legs and was taller, even taller than the height Growlmon stood at, and that his mane was much longer reaching all the way down to his ankles. Flaremon had grey armor on its chest, shoulders, and around its waist. From the armor on Flaremon's shoulder pads small flames raised from a circle on each shoulder pad, and attached to each shoulder were three extra pieces of sectioned armor colored red, white, and then back to red that spiked. The buckles he had on his legs as Firamon were now gone, though the ones on his hand that were around his wrists were changed a bit so that they extended a bit up his arm.

Mihiramon turned around when he noticed the light from Firamon's Digivolution and growled at the bipedal lion Digimon, while Patamon tiredly opened his eyes to stare at his partner Digimon's Ultimate level. With the Tamers Naruto got the new data on his D-arc on Flaremon through Patamon and read it out loud, so the others could hear.

"Flaremon, Ultimate level, Vaccine type Digimon," Naruto started. "His attacks are Crimson Beast-King Wave, Red Lion Dance, and Purifying Howl. Even though he can't fly anymore Flaremon is much faster now and a better skilled fighter, I guess all those Taijutsu lessons will be put to good use." Naruto finished reading with a smirk, as he was filled with anticipation for the upcoming fight between the two Ultimate level' Digimon.

"You digivolved," Mihiramon said pointing out the obvious. "How is that possible?" The tiger Digimon demanded, but didn't receive an answer from Flaremon who just stared at him intently. "It doesn't matter I suppose. I defeated you once and I can easily do it again!" Mihiramon declared loudly. "The Sovereign One shall take control of this world and wipe away all humans! Samurai Tiger Tail!" He finished lashing out with his Bao-Bang.

Flaremon blocked each of the strikes with his arms, the once powerful bone crushing blows reduced to almost non-painful strikes. With the Tamers, Naruto could also feel the blows from Mihiramon, but like his partner Digimon they almost didn't register. Back with the fighting Digimon Mihiramon was growing increasingly agitated with the fact that he wasn't able to break through the lion's defenses and land a real hit, his anger only grew once he realized that Flaremon wasn't getting all that hurt by his attack.

"You dare mock me!" Mihiramon roared angrily, "You who have chosen to be a slave to these worthless humans. You are a disgrace to Digimon everywhere, and I shall take much pleasure in showing you your place for daring oppose me, Armored Tiger Tail!" The Deva finished transforming his tail into its strongest form before aiming it at Flaremon.

"That won't work on me a second time." Flaremon muttered, stepping to the side and proceeding to grab a hold of Mihiramon's tail with his powerful hands. Swinging the tiger by his tail Flaremon released his hold on Mihiramon and sent him flying, "Crimson Beast-King Wave!" Flaremon shouted summoning and releasing crimson colored flames from his hands that took the shape of roaring lion's heads, which looked much like Leomon's Fist of the Beast King. The attacks flew through the air at Mihiramon, who just managed to right himself in midair to dodge the attacks but even then could feel the heat coming off the attack.

"Tiger Wing Blades!" Mihiramon countered, slamming his Bao-Bang onto the roof and creating shockwaves in Flaremon's direction, hoping the shockwaves would give him an opening for his next attack. What the tiger Deva didn't expect was for Flaremon to jump high into the air when the shockwaves approached and hit him with a drop kick to the head. Slowly Mihiramon unsteadily picked himself up; shaking his head in a desperate attempt to clear the cobwebs in his head Mihiramon did his best to rush his opponent, "Samurai Tiger Tail!" Mihiramon shouted swinging around.

Flaremon easily saw the attack coming and was prepared for it, igniting his hands and feet in crimson flames, the Ultimate lion Digimon disappeared from Mihiramon's sight in a burst of speed. "Red Lion Dance!" The lion roared before landing a barrage of fiery punches and kicks all over Mihiramon's body, appearing and disappearing all around Mihiramon during his assault.

'_Impossible,'_ Mihiramon thought a moment before Flaremon's first punch landed and his mind lost itself to the pain he felt. It was widely known amongst the Devas that he was one of the fastest, so for him not to be able to keep up with Flaremon's speed was unbelievable and terrifying.

With one final flaming kick to Mihiramon's chin, which Flaremon would freely admit was for a bit of revenge, Flaremon launched the beaten tiger up into the air, "Purifying Howl!" Flaremon howled unleashing a blast of energy at Mihiramon.

"NO!" Mihiramon shouted, as he felt himself slowly being destroyed, "Do you realize what you have done?! We could have ruled over these weak and pathetic humans, nothing could have stopped us and you had to ruin everything!" He continued, his life coming to a slow end. "But it won't matter in the end. My brothers will defeat you and avenge my death. Do you think you've won? You've only prolonged the inevitable! The Digimon Sovereign shall rule over both worlds and the Devas shall be by his side when it happens!" With that Mihiramon was deleted.

Taking a quick survey of the rooftop Flaremon noted the damage the Digimon caused during their fight, before he spotted Patamon lying off to the side. Picking him up Flaremon observed that most of Patamon's injuries had already healed, but that the small Rookie level Digimon would still need some rest. With Patamon held securely in his arms Flaremon jumped off the edge of the building to rejoin their Tamer and friends, creating a small tremor and creator when he landed back on the ground.

The Tamers, their Digimon, and Kazu, Kenta, and Jeri stared in amazement of the Ultimate level lion Digimon, the last three arriving near the end of the battle.

"You two were amazing back there." Naruto said praising both his Digimon, as he took hold of Patamon, and ignored Kazu's grumbling in the background about how unfair it was that the most popular guy in school was also a Digimon Tamer. "And congratulation on digivolving Flaremon." The blonde Tamer continued. "But we should leave before more people come here." He stated and the others quickly agreeing with his suggestion, though how they were supposed to hide Flaremon none of them were sure.

* * *

Two weeks after the fight with Mihiramon things had returned to relative normalcy. The few days right after the fight with the Deva were spent by the Tamers trying to figure everything they could about the Devas and who they served. With the help of the Digimon Database they easily figured out who the Devas were, and though the Devas were assigned to one of the Four Sovereign Digimon, that they all currently served under Zhuqiaomon. With the knowledge of who they would be facing all the Tamers and their Digimon intensified their training in preparation. Another thing they discovered was that for their Digimon to reach the Ultimate level they apparently would need the use of a Blue Card, as Coronamon hadn't been able to Digivolve to Flaremon since his fight with Mihiramon.

* * *

_Henry's apartment_

The half-Chinese half-Japanese Tamer was sleeping peacefully in his bed until his rest was interrupted by the phone ringing and his little sister waking him up.

"Wakey, wakey Henry," Suzie said trying to imitate Terriermon's voice, though she didn't know that Terriermon could really talk.

"Uh, Terriermon knock it off." Henry mumbled sleepily still not fully awake, so he didn't realize that it was actually his younger sister.

"Good morning!" Suzie said cheerfully revealing herself from behind Terriermon, and surprising the now awake Henry. "Wise and shine. Henwy that angwy kid's on the phone again." The little girl informed her brother.

The blue haired Tamer could feel his eye twitching, _'Angry, huh?'_ Henry thought as he got out of bed and made his way to the phone. _'I'll give him angry.'_ He finished his thought as he picked up the phone. "Takato, this better be important. It's 6:30 in the morning." Henry said into the phone knowing that it was his fellow Tamer from the way his sister described him.

"Hey Henry! Rise and shine!" Takato said from his end, way too loudly and with too much energy for that early hour of the day, before he got on to the reason he called. "I was thinking, as Tamers we should always do our best to try to get the jump on any potential threats."

"Great." Henry said doing his best to hold back any sarcastic remarks.

"Anyway," Takato continued, not noticing how disinterested Henry sounded at that moment. "I thought we could all patrol around the city today."

"I'd like to," Henry started still not sounding all that enthusiastic about Takato's idea, as he glanced at a nearby calendar that had the date circled. "But... I've other plans, sorry." The bluenette finished apologetically before hanging up.

* * *

_Matsuki Bakery_

Takato looked at the phone in his hand after Henry had hung up listening to the dial tone. "Well okay..." Takato mumbled confusedly before dialing in the number for the Nonaka home to tell Rika his plan, and after a couple of seconds someone answered just not anyone he was expecting.

"Hello, Nonaka residence, Naruto Uzumaki speaking." Naruto's voice came over the phone line.

"Uh, Naruto?" Takato said unsurely into the phone receiver.

"Takato? What's up?" Naruto asked his friend and fellow Tamer.

"What are you doing at Rika's?" Takato asked instead, holding off on telling the blonde his idea for the sake of learning why Naruto was at Rika's home so early in the morning.

"I was invited to go with Ri-Chan and Seiko-Obaachan to the theatre." Naruto answered, though he wasn't all that looking forward to it, but was forced into going by Rika.

"So I guess that means that neither you nor Rika can go for a patrol around the city?" Takato asked dejectedly and then told Naruto his brilliant plan to patrol the city in case there were any attacks by the other Devas. When Naruto confirmed that they wouldn't be able to the two Tamers said their goodbye before hanging up. "Wow," Takato began after putting the phone down. "I guess I'm the only one who takes taming seriously."

"Takato," Takato's mother's voice came from another part of the home/bakery. "There are some friends here to see you!" She informed him. "They're at the front door!"

Walking to the front door of the bakery Takato was only mildly surprised to find a group of his classmates waiting for him with excited smiles on their faces, with Kazu, Kenta, and Jeri at the front of the group.

"Hey Takato," Kenta greeted his friend. "We were just in the neighborhood..." He started only to trail off at the end.

"Uh," Jeri continued since Kenta wasn't going to do it. "They want to meet Guilmon," The brown haired girl explained with a slight gesture to the others that were behind them. "Is that okay?" She asked worriedly.

"Well, it's not like it's a real problem." Takato said as he scratched the back of his head nervously, a habit he had picked up from Naruto. "But I'm supposed to keep Guilmon a secret and I almost got into some real trouble for telling you guys last time."

"No worries," Kazu said before turning to look at the group. "Alright listen up! This is going to be our secret, so no one better open their big mouths to anyone else or you'll answer to me, got that?" He finished as threateningly as possible, with everyone quickly agreeing so they could get on their way of meeting an actual Digimon.

Takato looked at everyone, still not completely sure about showing Guilmon to everyone, but with the way they were looking at him Takato found himself unable to refuse. "I guess if everyone promises to keep Guilmon secret then should be okay." The Virus Tamer eventually relented, much to the excited cheering of his classmates. _'This is okay right?'_ Takato asked himself.

* * *

A few hours later Naruto, Rika, and Seiko were in the subway station waiting for the subway train to arrive. The play, in Naruto's opinion, had been lousy the actors would never find themselves staring in a movie or on Broadway of that Naruto was sure. The story itself wasn't all that bad enjoyable even, Rika seemed to have liked it at least from the smile on her face, something that really surprised Naruto since she seemed very annoyed, or vexed as she liked to say, when they first set out for the theatre.

Currently Seiko was on her phone talking to Rumiko as they waited for the subway train. "Oh the play, it was...interesting, I think." Seiko said, even the always kind and generous Seiko Hata was having second thoughts about the quality of the play. "Rika, Naruto-Kun, and I are taking the subway. We'll be home soon." The grandmother continued and then listened as her daughter told her something. "Alright I'll ask him." Seiko replied before turning toward Naruto. "Naruto-Kun how'd you like to have dinner with us tonight?" She asked him with Rika looking at him as well expecting him to agree like he usually does.

Naruto thought it over for a second. He sincerely enjoyed eating dinner with the Nonaka's but he was really starting to feel like he was taking advantage of their hospitality. "I'd like that Seiko-Obaachan, but I'm starting to feel like a burden, forcing you to make extra food for me whenever I come over." Naruto said regretfully, and surprising both women with his reluctance.

"Don't be ridiculous," Seiko said scolding the teen lightly. "It's no burden at all Naruto-Kun. I enjoy having you at our home and see it as no bother in making you something to eat; in fact I quiet enjoy hearing you praise my cooking." She said with a light laugh. "Besides that Rumiko wants to have the chance to talk with you again, and I'm sure Rika likes it when you come over too. Right, Rika?" The grandmother finished by turning to her granddaughter in question.

Rika blushed lightly when Naruto's attention turned to her as they waited for her to answer. "I guess I don't mind all that much." Rika admitted, briefly the redhead wondered how long ago it was that she thought the opposite and preferred the blonde teen stayed away from her home.

Naruto was genuinely touched by the two females' acceptance of him in their home, for someone who lived most of their life by themselves it was… nice. "Still," Naruto continued, "I want to pay you all back for having me over so often, so how about tonight I make you all dinner at my apartment." The blonde shinobi offered with a smile. "That way Seiko-Obaachan can enjoy having someone make dinner for her for a change." He stated with a smile directed toward the elderly woman.

Seiko really appreciated the gesture. "That's sounds lovely Naruto-Kun." Seiko told him with a smile of her own. "I don't see why not. Let me see what Rumiko thinks." She said before telling her daughter the younger blonde's suggestion and Rumiko seemed delighted with the idea so they agreed to have dinner at Naruto's that night.

"You are going to make something that isn't ramen, right?" Rika questioned curiously with a single eyebrow raised.

"I do know how to cook food besides ramen." Naruto claimed with faux indignation in his voice, before he continued in a whisper so only the amethyst eyed Tamer would be able to hear him. "Besides Coronamon would be irritated if all he could eat all day was ramen." He told her with a smirk of amusement.

Rika was about to say something else when both Tamers' D-arcs suddenly went off. Pulling the D-arcs out both watched as the screens changed into their tracking modes. "A Digimon is close by." Rika stated as she started to look around for any sign of the Digimon. Looking off to her right Rika spotted Calumon being fond over by a couple of girls. "Oh, it's just Calumon." Rika said dismissively.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that Ri-Chan." Naruto said looking in the opposite direction that Rika had.

"What?" Rika said confused before noticing that both their D-arcs were pointing down the subway tunnel where a Digital Field had appeared, "Another Digimon." The redhead Data Tamer realized just as the Digital Field engulfed them, and forced both Tamers to put on their sunglasses.

"Hey, who's smoking?" Seiko asked out loud mistaking the fog for smoke.

The sound of Seiko's voice reminded Naruto that he and Rika weren't alone. "We have to get Seiko-Obaachan out of here." He told Rika with the redhead quickly agreeing, as she called for Renamon.

The fox Digimon being in another part of the city confident in her Tamer's safety as long as she was with Naruto, but didn't mean she was going to take her time getting to Rika's side, not to mention her King's.

In the subway station Rika was pushing her grandmother towards the exit. "Come hurry, you need to get out of here." Rika said trying to get her grandmother to move faster.

"Wha- Rika what's the matter why are' you pushing?" Seiko asked confused by her granddaughter's actions.

"Hurry," Rika urged the older woman.

Behind them Naruto stared down the Digimon that came out of the subway tunnel, with a scowl on his face as recognized what it was. "I hate snakes." Naruto muttered to himself, as he glared at the Digimon. Naruto also silently cursed the fact that Patamon and Coronamon weren't with him, but he couldn't risk calling them with his phone in case the Digimon attacked while he was distracted.

The Digimon was a white scaled cobra with the hood being patterned with violet scales and had a gold rim lining the hood making it look like a turtle's shell, the underside of the hood being white like the rest of the snake. It had blood red colored eyes. It had a purple underside that almost looked armored and that also had gold rimming, near the base of the hood a green portion with two gold circles. On the Digimon's head it had three horns and purple markings under its eyes and on the center of its head. On the top of its hood Naruto could just barely make out a gold symbol that he couldn't really recognize.

Renamon suddenly appeared beside the blonde Tamer as he sensed Rika rejoin them, and heard Seiko being escorted out while calling out for Rika and him, "Rika mind telling us who this guy is?" Naruto asked, not taking his eyes off of the snake in front of him, as he grabbed a kunai he had hidden; since Naruto wasn't expecting to face off against a Digimon he only had a small amount of kunai and shuriken on him. From the Tamers' earlier research Naruto recognized the white scaled snake as one of the Devas, but that is all he could recall about it at the moment.

"Hold on," Rika told him, grabbing her D-arc and pointing it at the cobra as data appeared on the screen, "Alright, got it, Sandiramon, Ultimate level, Virus type, and one of the Devas." The amethyst eyed Tamer read, the only information she hadn't figured on her own was that the snake was a Virus type. "Its attacks are Venom Axe and Bio-Kui or 'Treasure Lance.' He is cruel and cunning choosing to make his opponents suffer by suffocating them before killing them. He normally lives underground and subterranean maneuvers are its specialty." Rika finished sounding disgusted when she read the part about how Sandiramon tortured with his opponents. Which Sandiramon seemed to find amusing if it's chuckling/hissing was anything to go by.

"Great," Naruto muttered as he focused on the part about skills of fighting while underground. "While down here Sandiramon has the advantage. We need to be extra careful while fighting him, and if we can figure out a way to get him above ground, somewhere far away from people." He told them.

"Where are Patamon and Coronamon?" Rika asked her friend. As strong as Naruto appeared to be Rika wasn't sure if he could take an Ultimate level Digimon without some serious help and with Renamon being a Data type and Sandiramon a Virus her partner was at a serious disadvantage while fighting the snake Deva.

"They're at the apartment." Naruto replied. "Call them, me and Renamon will keep scaly busy while you do that." Rika quickly agreed as she pulled out her phone and dialed the number for Naruto's apartment. Turning his attention to Renamon Naruto told the yellow furred vixen her part. "Ok I'll take this guy head on while you back me up." Naruto informed her and Renamon immediately nodded her head. She couldn't go against his plan, besides obvious reasons, Renamon understood just how bad the situation currently was for them. "Ready?" The shinobi Tamer asked.

"Ready," Renamon replied determinedly.

Naruto started things off by throwing some shurikens at the snake Renamon adding in her Diamond Storm, Renamon having worked on it until she could fire it almost instantly, but Sandiramon swiped them away harmlessly, almost lazily, with his tail. Obviously regular kunai, shuriken, and Renamon's attacks on their own weren't going to be enough. Naruto created some Shadow Clones and sent them to fight the snake Deva in close combat, this was for the sake of buying them a little more time and to see how well Sandiramon did with an opponent that fights up close. The first couple of clones were taken out quickly in a surprising display of speed and agility by the Deva. The next couple of clones were better prepared to deal with Sandiramon and managed to get passed the cobra's initial strike and got in close to land a couple of hits. The few hits they landed did nothing more than cause Sandiramon to grunt in slight pain with a bit of a bruise forming under its eye. Sandiramon retaliated violently insulted that a filthy human dared to touch him. Quickly wrapping around one clone Sandiramon tightened around the clone until it popped, while momentarily confused at the clone's sudden disappearance, the white snake went after the other clone and bit down on its head forcing it to pop, and sending the memories back to Naruto, causing him to shiver fearfully as he recalled his past experience with being eaten by a snake.

"I've called Coronamon and Patamon, they're on their way." Rika said, bringing Naruto out of his memories, as she rejoined the fight and pulled out a card from deck holster, "Alright Renamon time to really join the fight." She continued slashing the card through the D-arc. "Digi-Modify… Digivolution Activate!"

DIGIVOLUTION

"Renamon digivolve to… Kyuubimon!"

With Sandiramon's attention focused on Naruto it didn't see the pale blue flamed dragon heading his way, "Dragoon Wheel!" Immediately after digivolving Kyuubimon launched one of her strongest attacks at Sandiramon, which made it all the worse for the faux Kyuubi no Kitsune when Sandiramon looked at most annoyed with her interfereance.

With Sandiramon distracted Naruto went through a quick set of hand signs, "Wind Style: Drilling Air Bullets!" Naruto shouted, firing three spiraling bullets of air at the Virus Deva. The first air bullet hit Sandiramon in the side of the head and caused him some obvious pain, Sandiramon recovered enough to dodge the second bullet from hitting him but the quick succession of the third wind bullet managed to connect with Sandiramon's long snake body.

Sandiramon hissed angrily at the shinobi before a smirk appeared on its face, as it quickly slithered toward one of the subway tunnels. Naruto was surprised for a second at Sandiramon's quick retreat before he followed after the snake. Rika climbing on top of Kyuubimon and following after him, but not before she grabbed Calumon, you never know when the creampuff would prove useful.

It was only a few minutes later that the urgency to stop Sandiramon became more apparent when Rika and Naruto saw that the snake was heading straight for a subway train, and by the look in Sandiramon's eyes the Digimon had no intention of letting it stop him. With another curse Naruto grabbed a few kunai and infused them with wind chakra before jumping into the air and throwing them at Sandiramon, the kunai actually managing to penetrate the snake's white scales. But the kunai weren't chakra conductive, so while Naruto could sharpen the kunai enough to imbed' themselves in Sandiramon it wasn't enough for them to go through the white scaled serpent. With another painful hiss Sandiramon thrashed his body around, without slowing down, causing the kunai to dislodge themselves before falling uselessly off to the side. Naruto made a note to come back for those kunai later or hazard having someone else find them.

* * *

Henry spent the last few hours since receiving Takato's call running a few errands, along with going to his martial arts practice with his sensei at the dojo. Since Henry started his training with Naruto Henry's sensei had been amazed by the bluenette's astounding improvement. Terriermon had tagged along all but begging Henry to take the small rabbit Digimon with him instead of leaving him at home at the mercy Nurse Suzie.

"I'm bored," Terriermon said with a sigh as he and Henry stepped off a subway train. "I wish something exciting would happen." He continued wistfully before his body grew tense and he glanced at the subway tunnel. "Oh," Henry looked down at his partner, who he was carrying in his arms, rather than have Terriermon hanging off his shoulder like usual, in question. "I got my wish." Terriermon finished, Henry looking in the same direction as his partner.

From the tunnel Sandiramon appeared heading straight for the subway train, scarring the Subway Conductor and all the passengers onboard the train that could see it off in a panic. Through the chaotic noise of stampeding feet and fearful shouts Henry could hear a woman screaming for her child, just as Sandiramon came up to the subway train and opened its mouth wide and started to vaporize it. Turning to look inside the disappearing train Henry could see a toddler crying while lying on his back.

"Venom Axe!" Sandiramon shouted, firing a halberd with its blade glowing' a venomous purple, and with a green staff, at the child.

Rushing back into the train Henry pulled out a card and his green D-arc, with Terriermon behind him. "Digi-Modify… WarGreymon's Brave Shield Activate!" Terriermon moved to stand between his Tamer, the child, and the Venom Axe coming at them, a replica of WarGreymon's shield appearing in his small hands. Henry managed to pick up the small child just as the Venom Axe struck the shield before Tamer and Digimon exited the train in a hurry, the last remnants of the subway disappearing just as they got off, and proceeded to return the small boy to his mother.

While the mother was thanking Henry and Terriermon for saving her son the two of them were watching carefully as Sandiramon slithered passed them, before they heard something else coming from the tunnel in the same direction that the snake had come from. Prepared in case it was another enemy Digimon neither of them expected to see Naruto rush passed them' chasing after Sandiramon, Rika on Kyuubimon was far less of a surprise.

"Coming through, watch your toes!" Kyuubimon said as she ran by not slowing down in the least.

"Call Goggle-head!" Rika shouted having spotted Henry as she tossed him her cell phone. "We're going to need his help!" She stated before she and Kyuubimon disappeared down the subway tunnel.

Henry stood there for a moment stupefied by his friends' sudden appearance and then disappearance before what Rika said registered in his mind and did what she told him to do.

* * *

In the subway tunnel Kyuubimon was slowly falling behind Sandiramon and Naruto. "He's getting away!" Kyuubimon said as she did her best to keep up with the other two.

"Not for long!" Rika said grabbing a card from her deck and slashing it through her D-arc. "Digi-Modify… Hyper Speed Activate!"

In a burst of speed Kyuubimon started to catch back up with Sandiramon and Naruto. "Now that's more like it!" Kyuubimon stated thrilled, getting a rush out of her new found speed, as her tails left behind a trail of light blue flames.

"Need a lift?" Rika asked, offering her hand to Naruto, as they came up beside him.

"Show offs," Naruto said once he noticed the trial of ghostly fire they were leaving behind them, but took Rika's hand anyway and pulled himself onto Kyuubimon sitting himself right behind Rika. "But I guess this isn't so bad." The blonde shinobi continued placing his arms Rika's waist to make sure he didn't fall off, enjoying how close to Rika he was, off course he could just use a bit of chakra to keep himself from falling but he preferred this.

Rika blushed lightly at the feel of Naruto's arms around her; she hadn't realized how close that would make him. "You better not do anything perverted Fishcake no Baka." Rika told him warningly.

"Don't really know if I can help myself." Naruto said jokingly and with a large grin.

"Oi you two better be behaving yourselves back there," Kyuubimon said gaining the two Tamers' attention, but even from the tone of her voice they could tell she was amused with the situation that her amethyst eyed Tamer found herself in.

* * *

At the last subway terminal Sandiramon managed to scare away all the people leaving the Tamers and Digimon by themselves. With nowhere to go the snake Deva turned around to face his opponents. Naruto and Kyuubimon stood protectively in front of Rika both ready to continue fighting.

"Now that you have no more innocent people to terrorize maybe you'd like to pick on me." Kyuubimon said confidently, as she spread her nine tails out wide, "Fox Tail Inferno!" The kitsune called summoning her ghostly flames to the tip of her tails before launching them at the cobra.

Naruto backed upped Kyuubimon's attack with one of his own. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" The winds from Naruto's jutsu enhanced Kyuubimon's Fox Tail Inferno, causing the flames to burn brighter, stronger, and fly faster towards Sandiramon.

With Sandiramon trying to withstand the high pressure winds that Naruto created he couldn't concentrate on moving out of the way, or blocking Kyuubimon's attack so each of the pale blue fireballs connected. The enhanced fireballs caused Sandiramon to flinch painfully and once he recovered he glared murderously at the cause of his pain. Lunging at the fox Kyuubimon jumped back to avoid being eaten by the white serpent, sadly she didn't see Sandiramon's tail as it wrapped itself around her and constricted around her tightly and causing her to scream.

DIGIVOLUTION

"Terriermon digivolve to… Gargomon!"

"Gargo Laser!"

"Corona Flame!"

"Boom Bubble!"

The moment that Henry and Terriermon arrived, accompanied by Coronamon and Patamon who had seem the two make their way toward the subway station, Terriermon digivolved to his Champion level and the three Digimon immediately attacked, as they aimed for Sandiramon's tail in order to free Kyuubimon. Sandiramon wasn't expecting the triple of attack from the three Digimon, so when the three attacks connected he reflexively released Kyuubimon and drew his tail back to him in both pain and surprise.

"It's about time you two showed upped." Naruto said to his partners with a smirk.

"Sorry we took so long Naruto." Patamon apologized.

"It's not our fault someone decided to leave us at home and then run around half the city after a Digimon." Coronamon shot back.

Naruto chuckled lightly at how different his two partners were when it came to their personalities. "Well are you two ready to really join this fight?" Naruto asked pulling out a card and grabbing his D-arc, his Digimon growing serious as they nodded their heads, "Digi-Modify… Digivolution Activate!"

DIGIVOLUTION

"Patamon digivolve to… Angemon!"

"Coronamon digivolve to… Firamon!"

"Where's Takato?!" Rika asked Henry not seeing the brown haired Tamer or Guilmon.

"I couldn't find him!" Henry answered. "You'd think with how eager he was to patrol the city this wouldn't be a problem."

"Figures," The redhead muttered.

Sandiramon stared down the humans and Digimon that dared to oppose him. Even outnumbered as he was the snake Deva refused to admit any kind of fear or worry at his chances of surviving. He was one of the Sovereign One's personal Devas; he wouldn't be defeated by a bunch of humans and their pet Digimon. Sandiramon opened his mouth wide open, displaying his sharp white teeth. "Venom Axe," Sandiramon hissed firing one Venom Axe after the other.

Gargomon and Henry moved to stand behind one of the pillars in the subway station to avoid being skewered by the poison axe. Naruto moved to get Rika out of the line of danger Kyuubimon, Firamon, and Angemon moved to stand between their Tamers and the Venom Axes, blocking any that were going in their direction. After the last Venom Axe was deflected Firamon was the first to retaliate.

"Fire Bomb!" Firamon shouted unleashing a flame bomb at Sandiramon. The snake Deva moved swiftly to the side to avoid the fire bomb only to be pelted by Gargomon's Gargo Laser. From above Angemon came down at Sandiramon with his golden staff.

"Angel Rod," Angemon said his staff glowing with holy energy.

Before the attack could connect with the top of Sandiramon's head the snake Deva used its tail to grab ahold of the staff and toss it, and Angemon, to the other side of the station. Angemon was just able to correct himself before hitting the wall.

Firamon moved in to attack Sandiramon at close range with his Fire Claw, only for the white scaled snake proved to be too agile and evade all of Firamon's strikes. After another swipe by Firamon the snake Deva attacked the fire lion Digimon.

"Venom Axe," Sandiramon said unleashing his poisonous attack to close for Firamon to evade. The attack caused Firamon to be thrown across the room and falling in a heap, the attack from the Ultimate level Digimon at such a close range almost causing the Champion level Digimon to revert back to Coronamon.

With one of his partners out of the fight Naruto dashed toward Sandiramon a Rasengan in hand. Sandiramon watched the blonde Tamer's quick approach and struck at him with his tail only for Naruto to jump over the tail and start running on it. Sandiramon, seeing his initial attack had failed, opened its mouth in attempt to eat the irritating human.

"Not this time." Naruto said jumping up above Sandiramon and brought the Rasengan down on top of the snake's head, "Rasengan!" The teen shouted almost triumphantly, the spiraling ball of destruction forcing Sandiramon into the ground, before the shinobi jumped off.

With Naruto out of the way Kyuubimon proceeded to attack the serpent, "Dragon Wheel!" The ghostly flame dragon almost looked like it was running along the subway tracks before it slammed into Sandiramon. Sandiramon actually felt the pain from Kyuubimon's attack this time, Naruto's Rasengan being strong enough weaken him momentarily. But just because he was hurt didn't mean that he was going be defeated.

Moving swiftly Sandiramon slammed into Kyuubimon knocking the kitsune back. Gargomon and Angemon tried to attack the snake, but Sandiramon moved to fast for them to land a successful hit. They also had to be careful about the stations pillars or risk having the ceiling fall in on them. Sandiramon slithered out from behind one of the pillars, "Venom Axe!" The snake shouted firing two Venom Axes at Gargomon and Angemon.

Gargomon dove out of the way of the axe that was heading in his direction, while Angemon spun his staff in front of him to block the poison axe aimed at him.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu," Naruto said creating a couple of Shadow Clones that appeared beside him. Naruto and his two clones pulled out a couple of kunai and channeled wind chakra into them before the three blonde's ran toward the white scaled serpent Deva. The Ultimate Virus Type Digimon did its best to keep track of the three approaching blondes as it prepared itself to strike at a moment's notice.

* * *

_With Takato_

After Takato showed his friends and classmates Guilmon they spent the rest of the day playing in one of the park's wide open fields. Currently the Virus Tamer was pushing his Digimon partner in a shopping cart as they chased after Jeri and Kenta. In Guilmon's nostrils were wads of paper that the Rookie level Digimon fired at whoever he was chasing. Kenta came up with the idea, calling Guilmon's new "attack" the Snot Blaster after Growlmon's Pyro Blaster.

"You can't catch us!" Jeri said back to the Tamer and Digimon pair cheerfully.

"Fire, Guilmon!" Takato instructed his Digimon with a smile on his face. The brown haired Tamer might have been planning on patrolling the city, but having fun with his friends wasn't a bad way to spend the day either. Guilmon did as his Tamer commanded and fired the wads of paper out of his nose and at the two teens in front of them. With a surprising look of mischief on her face Jeri grabbed Kenta's hand and pushed him into the line of fire.

"Ah!" Kenta shouted dramatically, "You got me." He finished dropping his head in defeat before falling over completely, the others laughing at his antics.

Guilmon, who was laughing along with the others, suddenly stops and starts to sniff the air. "I smell a Digimon nearby." He said gaining the attention of his Tamer and all of his new friends.

"Well I was wondering when you buffoons would figure out that there was somethin' goin' on." A voice a majority of the group hadn't heard before said. Looking over toward where the voice originated from the teens saw a mostly purple Digimon with a white face, red gloves and scarf, and a smiley face on his stomach with sharp teeth.

"Hey Takato do you know that guy?" Kazu asked his friend, while he and the other stared at the strange looking Digimon.

"Yeah," Takato said regretfully. "That's Impmon." The brunette revealed, "He's really annoying, just ignore him and he'll go away." He advised his friends, going so far as to turn his back on the imp like Digimon.

"But just look at that guy," Kazu continued incredulously. "How can you ignore a guy like that? Especially when it looks like he's wearing-"

Impmon cut Kazu off, summoning a flame on one of his fingers that was way bigger than the ones he normally did. "Say makeup and this is goin' somewhere where it's really goin' to hurt!" Impmon shouted threateningly, causing more than a few of the gathered teens to take a huge step away from the Virus Digimon. A smirk appeared on Impmon's face at the clear looks of fear on the teenagers' faces. "You know you all are a bunch of ingrates you know that?" Impmon continued letting the flame he summoned to disappear. "Here I am to tell you two idiots, out of the goodness of my heart no less, that your friends are down there fightin' for their dear lives, while you're here playin' baby and stroller." The purple Digimon finished.

"No way!" Takato said in shock. He couldn't, didn't want to; believe that while he and Guilmon were having fun their friends were in danger.

"Way," Impmon replied with a sneer.

Mostly ignoring the conversation that was happening between his Tamer and Impmon Guilmon started to sniff the ground around them. "I can smell them," The red raptor stated confidently "They're right beneath us, in the tunnels down below."

Takato looked down at the ground, "Below us?" Takato repeated confusedly before realizing what that meant. "They must be down in the subway."

"Move to the head of the class, genius." Impmon comment with his sneer still present, "Now that you've waited enough time overworking your pathetic brains your friends are about to become snake food, bravo, nice work." The imp remarked snidely, "Though if something were to happen to the blonde bastard I wouldn't mind all that much." He finished in a mutter to himself that no one else heard.

"You mean there's a real Digimon fight going on in the subway system?" Kazu asked Takato excitedly before looking over his shoulder at everyone else. "I don't know about you dweebs but this I gotta see."

Takato's gaze shifted from Kazu to the others who looked just as excited at the prospect of seeing an actual Digimon fight.

"Well, what are we waiting for you guys?" Kenta asked.

"Come on Takato," Jeri continued looking at Takato pleadingly. "Can we go with you?"

Normally with the pleading expression Jeri was giving Takato would have caused the crimson eyed Tamer to cave immediately, but he knew how dangerous things could get and didn't want to endanger his friends by taking them with him, "Absolutely not!" Takato rebuffed his voice sounding completely serious. "This isn't a game this is for real and it's dangerous, you guys could get killed!" The group was surprised by Takato's sudden change in demeanor, and in Jeri's case maybe, kind of, just a bit turned on. Takato turned his attention away from his friends to Guilmon. "What do ya say Guilmon, you ready?" He asked, Guilmon quickly agreeing. "Digi-Modify… Digmon's Drill Activate!" Takato finished by slashing a card through his red D-arc.

With the power of the card that Takato scanned Guilmon's hands were replaced with drills. Guilmon then started to dig a tunnel quickly with his new hands straight down heading for the subway. Once Guilmon had dug the hole so that it was a few feet deep Takato was about to jump into it so he could follow after his Digimon.

"Takato wait a minute." Kazu said; stopping Takato before the Tamer jumped into the hole, with a card in his hand. "Here take this power modify card. You might need it." The brown haired visor wearing boy said, handing over the card to Takato.

"Thanks, I owe ya one." Takato said, taking the card with a grateful smile, before jumping into the hole.

The remaining teens then surrounded the hole and watch as Takato and Guilmon slowly disappeared from sight. "Ya better bring back my card!" Kazu shouted down into the hole just before Takato disappeared completely.

"Ungrateful little brats," Impmon muttered from the tree branch he had been standing on the whole time, being completely ignored. "Why don't I ever get any credit, huh? Ba boom," He finished complaining quietly.

* * *

_Back with Naruto and the Others_

Naruto panted just a bit as he regained his breath. For the last several minutes the blonde shinobi had been fighting Sandiramon along with his clones, while the Tamer Digimon recovered a bit. Naruto and his clones had engaged Sandiramon in close quarter combat with his wind enhanced kunai. The result was his current lack of breath and Sandiramon having cuts up and down the length of his body, with bits of data coming off the Digimon, and a spiral mark on the side of the snake's body as proof that he was able to land another Rasengan on it. Sandiramon proved to be quite fast in its own right; the snake Digimon's strikes were fast and precise attacking whenever it saw an opening, in other words a true user of the snake style of fighting.

Naruto could have ended the fight a lot sooner with the use of his more destructive jutsu, but the after effects of using those kinds of jutsu in a confined space would most likely result in the ceiling falling in on him and the others. And while it was very likely that he would survive he didn't want to risk Rika's and Henry's lives. Besides that a subway station that looked like a target for terrorist bombing would draw to much attention to Shinjuku.

"Whiskers, how are you holding up?" Rika asked in some obvious concern. Kyuubimon looked about ready to rejoin the fight soon and so did Firamon, but until then it was up to Naruto to watch out for himself.

"I'm alright," Naruto replied, keeping a close watch of the snake across from him. "Wishing I could go all out against the snake bastard, but besides that I'm perfect."

"You really don't seem to like snakes." Henry observed.

Naruto gave a humorless chuckle. "Yeah, well I don't have the best experience with snakes, especially white ones." Naruto said. "Doesn't help that a giant ass snake ate me once," The blonde shinobi remarked; gaining questioning looks from the others looks that Naruto noticed. "A story for another time," He promised.

A hissing laughter from Sandiramon drew everyone's attention back to the snake Deva. "Well there is an interesting idea." The snake said intrigued, "I wonder how you would taste?" It finished with a look of obvious interest.

"Yeah, not going to happen," Naruto replied. "It was bad enough the first time. I'm not about to let it happen a second time." He stated. Naruto was about to continue his assault on Sandiramon when part of the ceiling above the white scaled snake suddenly gave way causing some rocks and, surprisingly enough, Takato and Guilmon to fall on the Deva's head before they bounced off and land on the subway platform not far from Rika and Henry.

"Look who finally decided to show up." Rika said just a tad bit accusingly.

"Sorry we're late." Takato said sheepishly.

"Well better late than never." Gargomon supplied.

"We don't have the time to concern ourselves with that now." Kyuubimon said stepping forward. "Guilmon, we need you to digivolve." She said to the red dinosaur.

"I'm ready." Guilmon assured.

"Don't worry I have just the cards to finish this." Takato said confidently as he held two cards. "Digi-Modify… Digivolution Activate!" Takato said slashing the first card, a Digivolution card, through his D-arc to make Guilmon digivolve.

DIGIVOLUTION

"Guilmon digivolve to... Growlmon!"

In Guilmon's place stood Growlmon ready, and willing, to fight the snake Deva.

"Well for once Kazu didn't give me a useless card." Takato observed, "Digi-Modify… Power Activate!"

"Venom Axe!" Sandiramon shouted; attacking before Growlmon had the chance to, firing multiple poisonous halberds.

Naruto went through a quick set and hand signs. "Wind Style: Great Break Through!" He exclaimed, the high pressure winds slowing down the axes before stopping them completely causing them to fall to the ground harmlessly before they dispersed.

"Pyro Blaster!" Growlmon roared unleashing the full power of his attack.

Sadly Sandiramon proved to be just as cunning as the D-arc had described, as the snake had been expecting the attack and moved out of the way the moment that Growlmon had fired it without problem. Sandiramon smirked at the astounded look on the brown haired human's face and his disgraced pet of a Digimon. Flicking out its tongue Sandiramon paused for a moment as it caught the scent of something, flicking out its tongue again to make sure the smirk on its face turned noticeably sinister. Sandiramon could smell the scent of humans, young humans that were different from the four in front of him. Tracing the scent back to where it was coming from Sandiramon noticed the scent was originating from the hole the brown haired human and the dinosaur Digimon had fallen out of. Sandiramon thought maybe he should greet those other humans, he was getting hungry after all and a little snack would be nice.

Without a second thought Sandiramon launched itself at the hole, firing a quick Venom Axe up it that seemed almost acidic in nature as it helped make the hole larger for the white scaled cobra, and started to burrow through it some rocks falling out of the hole as it went. The Tamers and Digimon were too shocked to do anything as they watched Sandiramon escape into the hole that Guilmon had dug, it wasn't until they saw Sandiramon's tail flick out of view that the implications of what happened started to sink in.

"Takato, where does that hole lead to?" Though it was a question the way Naruto directed it to the Virus Tamer made it clear that the blonde shinobi was demanding an answer.

"It goes to the park." Takato answered in an almost panic. "But Kazu, Kenta, Jeri, and a bunch of others from school are up there!" In his rush to help his friends Takato had unknowingly put another group of his friends in danger.

"Damn it," Naruto cursed lightly, as he ran toward the hole and jumped up into it with the use of chakra. Angemon quickly followed after his Tamer with Firamon moving steadily behind him.

"Come on Growlmon," Takato said desperately, as he pulled out another Digimon card. "We have to get to the others! Digi-Modify… Hyper Wing Activate!" He yelled scanning the card through his D-arc. On Growlmon's back six translucent white wings appeared and, after grabbing Takato, proceeded to fly up the hole that Sandiramon unwittingly made big enough for the red tyrannosaurs like Digimon to fit through.

Rika, Henry, and their Digimon knew that they had been left behind, as unlike Naruto, Takato, and their Digimon they didn't have an easy way to climb that hole so it would take longer for them to do it. They would just have to hope that the others could handle Sandiramon without them for a while.

* * *

_In the park_

Kazu, Jeri, Kenta, and their classmates were waiting around the hole that Guilmon had dug a few minutes ago before disappearing from their line of sight. They all hoped that they would be able to catch some part of the battle going on beneath them, but as more time passed their hope diminished. As such they were all surprised when they saw something moving in the hole, but whatever anticipation they felt quickly turned into horror when they realized what was heading towards them was a giant white snake. They all quickly backed away screams resonating through the air.

Coming out of the hole Sandiramon stared down the little humans with its piercing red eyes, a dark chuckle trying to escape out of its lips once the snake noticed that all the humans were too scared to move. "My' what tasty looking morsels," Sandiramon said in a raspy tone of voice. "Who would like to be eaten first? Or should I just decide for myself." The snake Digimon asked, licking its lips with its long forked tongue.

Luckily, before Sandiramon could make a move to eat one of the teenagers Naruto shot out of the hole, much to the shock of his classmates, with an Angemon and lion like Digimon behind him. Throwing one of his hands forward a golden flame like chain emerged from the palm of his hand and wove around the snake Deva, "Hurry run away now!" Naruto ordered to his fellow students. Sadly they were all to stunned' by Naruto's actions to move, they did just see him do something that should have been impossible for a human after all, though the girls, with the exception of Jeri, were swooning at being saved by their Uzumaki-Sama. "RUN NOW!" Naruto shouted knocking them out of their stupor and making them all put a lot of distance between them and the great white snake.

Sandiramon did its best to thrash around and escape the chains that held it down, infuriated that the blonde human had allowed its next meal to escape. Naruto struggled to keep his hold on Sandiramon, because of how he had to ensnare the snake to provide the others with a quick escape it had left Sandiramon with enough mobility to try and escape. Above the snake Angemon and Firamon prepared to unleash their attacks.

"Hand of Faith," Angemon said firing a blast of golden holy energy from his hand.

"Fire Bomb," Firamon continued, sending out multiple fire bombs that flew alongside Angemon's Hand of Faith.

With the two Champions' attacks quickly approaching Sandiramon thrashed around all the more wildly. Naruto was left with no other choice but to release his hold on Sandiramon, and the snake was able to barely dodged Firamon and Angemon's attacks. Turning around to face the Digimon Sandiramon opened its mouth wide, "Venom Axe!" The serpent Digimon hissed, firing a barrage of Venom Axes at the two flying Champion Digimon. Knowing that they couldn't block all of the axes heading in their direction they had to move out of the way.

At that moment Growlmon made his way out of the hole his wings disappearing, Takato took that chance to get off his partner, before the tyrannosaurs Digimon charged at Sandiramon. "Pyro Blaster!" Growlmon said releasing a blast of fire at Sandiramon. Dodging the attack Sandiramon waited for Growlmon to get close, "Dragon Slash!" The dinosaur Digimon said extending the blade like part on its arm that cackled with energy.

The smirk Naruto saw on Sandiramon's face didn't sit well with Naruto; it reminded him to much of Orochimaru when the Hebi-Teme had something up his sleeve, but before he could shout out a warning to Growlmon the snake Deva struck.

"Bio-Kui!" Sandiramon hissed dementedly summoning his Treasure Lance, a weapon that looked like a mix between a halberd and a lance, the staff portion of the lance a deep green with the axe bladed part of the Treasure Lance being a deep purple, the same color as Sandiramon's hood and underside, and a spike at the tip with the same symbol on his hood being on the axe. Swinging it expertly Sandiramon slashed at Growlmon hitting the Virus Champion Digimon across the chest.

"Growlmon no," Takato mumbled weakly, looking like he could faint at any second, as he placed a hand on his chest feeling what Guilmon felt. Rika, Henry, Kyuubimon, Gargomon, and Calumon managed to get out of the hole just in time to see Growlmon be slashed by Sandiramon. "This is all my' fault," Takato continued to mutter in a daze. "Everyone is in danger because of me. And now Growlmon's hurt. What have I done?"

"What are you doing Takato? Snap out of it!" Naruto shouted at his friend. "Growlmon needs your help."

"But he is only hurt because of me." Takato said still in a daze.

While Takato was having his little melt down the other Digimon were engaging Sandiramon in a fight, keeping the Deva away from the weakened Growlmon.

"I'm a lousy Tamer." Takato claimed sadly.

"You're wrong," Growlmon said softly, "You're not a lousy Tamer."

The brunette watched in awe as Growlmon struggled to stay standing. "Growlmon," Takato said his partner's name just as softly.

"Our friends are in danger Takatomon." Growlmon pointed out, off to the side Takato could see everyone who had been in the park with him and Guilmon earlier. "We have to keep fighting so that we can protect them. I'm not ready yet to give up Takatomon I can still fight, I still want to fight, but I can't do it by myself. I need you, Tamer. So please don't give up yet." The Champion level Virus Digimon finished.

"Growlmon," Takato said once more, before wiping away a few tears that had gathered around his eyes. "Alright, if you're not willing to quit then neither can I." The crimson eyed Tamer said far more confidently then he was a minute ago, "Time to show this snake exactly what we're made of!" The brunette declared at the same time that his D-arc and Calumon's Zero Unit started to shine brightly. Grabbing a card from his pocket it turned into a Blue Card the moment Takato touched it. "Digi-Modify… Matrix Digivolution Activate!"

'_Crystal Matrix Activate!'_ Calumon thought.

MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION

"Growlmon digivolve to… WarGrowlmon!"

In Growlmon's place stood a much larger Digimon, which stood even taller than Flaremon, which had the top half of its body was encased in armor. The top half of the armor was painted red with the bottom half white. At the center of WarGrowlmon's chest armor was the Digital Hazard symbol with what looked like blasters on either side. His arms were encased in black metal and along the edges armor vambraces were long, curved, chrome Digizoid blades. A metal armor covered the lower part of WarGrowlmon's jaw that formed around its jaws, which still let the Ultimate level Digimon to open its mouth. From the back of the chest armor came two metal' like wings with a long thick cord between them. WarGrowlmon essentially looked like a cyborg version of Growlmon.

"Alright now that's what I'm talking about." Takato cheered excitedly looking at his now Ultimate level Digimon. "WarGrowlmon, Cyborg type Digimon, Ultimate level."

"Our little boy's grown up." Henry said craning his head up to look at the Digimon.

"I'll give ya that one." Rika added astonished.

"Very impressive," Naruto agreed. "Let's see what else we can get on him." The blonde shinobi continued, holding up his D-arc to scan the cyborg Digimon. "WarGrowlmon's armor is made up of some of the Digital World's strongest metal of Chrome Digizoid. The verniers on his allow him the ability to fly and the 'Assault Balancer on' cable can extend to impale enemies. It attacks are Radiation Blade and Atomic Blaster." Naruto finished reading.

Now Sandiramon was growing concerned, he was now facing an opponent that was also an Ultimate. That of course didn't necessarily mean that the cyborg Digimon would win as there were plenty of Digimon that were either Ultimate or Mega in level, and yet were far weaker than other Digimon of the same level. With both Digimon having been fighting for a long while and both injured it would come down to who was stronger, or could out last the other.

Sandiramon hid his apprehension as he and WarGrowlmon charged at each other. The snake Deva attacked with his Bio-Kui repeatedly striking at WarGrowlmon only to have each strike blocked by the cyborg Digimon's vambraces to its increasing frustration, and with each failed hit Sandiramon started to swing his Treasure Lance more and more wildly nor longer expertly wielding it. But that was its desperation to beat this foe and escape so that it may recover.

WarGrowlmon on the other hand waited for the opportune moment to attack, his many spares with Naruto showing that it wasn't wise to carelessly attack an opponent. After one particular attack by Sandiramon, WarGrowlmon knew it was time to attack. "Radiation Blade," Infusing his bladed arms with energy WarGrowlmon sliced through Sandiramon's Bio-Kui at the base of the axe rendering it useless. Sandiramon followed the blade of his prized weapon with his blood red eyes as it fell uselessly to the ground, distracted as he was he didn't notice WarGrowlmon gather energy into the blaster on his chest armor. "Atomic…" WarGrowlmon began.

"Blaster!" Takato finished for his partner, who unleashed twin blasts of concentrated crimson energy. The attack tore into Sandiramon and shot him forcefully across the ground. When WarGrowlmon stopped his attack the white snake Deva didn't make a move to get back up, but still found the strength to laugh weakly.

"What are you laughing about scaly?" Gargomon asked the defeated Deva.

"You humans and your foolish Digimon do not know what you are in for." Sandiramon claimed. "I am one of the twelve Devas sent by the Sovereign one, you may have defeated me, but my brethren will avenge me. Prepare yourselves to be conquered. We are the Digimon who refuse to be tamed by mere humans. We will rule your realm and there's nothing you can do to stop us. The twelve' Devas will destroy you all!" The Virus Deva proclaimed heatedly before going off into an uncontrollable laughter.

"That's where you are wrong." Naruto said, the serious edge in his voice stopping Sandiramon from laughing. "We know exactly who you are, who the Devas are, who this Sovereign is, and what he is after." He stated each claim factually. "And we will be ready for whatever your brethren or Zhuqiaomon have planned."

That's the last thing that Sandiramon heard before turning into data.

The Tamers and their Digimon were silent for a moment to appreciate having one another battle with the Devas until…

"That was totally awesome!"

Kazu totally ruined the moment. Looking over toward where Takato, Naruto, and Henry's schoolmates had gathered, the Tamers noticed how they were being stared at in awe, more so Naruto than anyone else.

"I can't believe it you are all real." Kazu said with barely withheld excitement.

"I must be dreaming." Jeri said her eyes shifting between each Digimon, and finally landing on Guilmon. "Is that really Guilmon?" She asked.

"Amateur," Kazu said with a scoff. "Guilmon digivolved twice now, this is his Ultimate level."

"Yeah," Kenta said just as excited as his friend, "WarGrowlmon!"

Takato, though a bit exhausted by the battle couldn't help the soft smile that appeared on his face. "Yup," Takato said as he began introductions. "That's Gargomon and Henry." He started by pointing at the Vaccine Tamer and Digimon. "Rika and Renamon," He continued by pointing to the only female pair.

"You already know Goggle-head and Dino-boy." Rika said indicating Takato and WarGrowlmon.

"And of course there is-" Takato started only to be cut off by the squeals of the girls in the group of friends he was in the park with earlier, with the exception of Jeri.

"Uzumaki-Sama!" They all cheered loudly before rushing the blonde haired shinobi and his Digimon.

"You were so cool!"

"When you appeared at the beginning and then what you said at the end. You were like a real live Superhero!"

"So awesome! And these Digimon are they both yours!"

"Yeah," Naruto said unsurely as he took a step back from the girls surrounding him. "They're Angemon and Firamon." Naruto said finishing the introductions.

"So cool!" The girls swooned.

"What is this?" Rika muttered lowly, as did everything she could to restrain herself from showing these girls everything she's learned in terms of fighting from Naruto. The only thing keeping her anger at bay was the fact that Naruto didn't seem to be enjoying the attention from the admittedly attractive looking girls.

"We mentioned to you before that Naruto was popular, right?" Takato asked the redhead. "Well these are a few of his fan-girls." He finished gesturing to the girls who seemed intent on being as close to Naruto as possible.

"This is so unfair," Kazu whined. "If I was a Digimon Tamer then-"

"Then the girls would still ignore you for Naruto." Kenta cut in jokingly.

"And you couldn't hang out with some nonfan-girl friends?" Rika asked tersely.

"You say that," Takato began. "But it's not like there all that many girls in school who aren't Naruto fan-girls. It's actually easier to name the one who aren't then the ones who are."

"Well who are the ones who aren't?" Rika continued to ask.

"Right now?" Takato asked back. "Well there is Jeri and all the female teachers." The brunette said simply

"That's it," Rika said astounded and completely unhappy with the answer.

"So unfair!" Kazu complained again, though he was ignored by nearly everyone except Kenta who was patting his friends shoulder in an attempt to offer some level of comfort.

"Anyway," Henry said drawing everyone's attention to him. "We should do something before people start noticing a giant cybernetic dinosaur in the middle of the park." He finished as they all looked at the giant Digimon beside them, who waved merrily once he noticed that he was the center of attention.

"I'll take care of it." Naruto said breaking free from his fan-girls. "I'll cast a wide area Genjutsu to keep everything here from being seen by anyone else and keep them all away at the same time." The shinobi stated, "Unless we can figure some other way to revert WarGrowlmon back to Guilmon that is."

"Genjutsu?" Those that didn't know about Naruto's origins asked.

"Nothing to worry about," Naruto said dismissively. "But I do want to try something." He stated, and before anyone could question him on his attentions Naruto channeled a shit load of chakra into his legs and jumped up into the air. In a matter of seconds Naruto reached the same height as WarGrowlmon, causing more than one jaw to drop, before he slammed a foot down on WarGrowlmon's head. For a second nothing happened before the cyborg dinosaur started to glow. When the glow surrounding the Ultimate level Digimon finally faded he had returned to being Guilmon.

"Ow that really hurt!" Guilmon moaned holding the top of his head.

"Guilmon your back to being Guilmon," Takato said happily, though at the moment Guilmon didn't seem to care about that fact at all.

"Oh, wow, that actually worked." Naruto said landing back on the ground. "Guess I won't have to cast that genjutsu now."

"So you weren't even sure kicking WarGrowlmon on the head was going to do anything?" Rika asked incredulously.

"Nope," Naruto replied with his fox like grin while rubbing the back of his head.

"So if it hadn't worked?"

"Then Guilmon head would just be hurting." Naruto finished chuckling.

"Baka," Rika said with a sigh, though there was a fond smile on her face.

"Hey! How dare you call Uzumaki-Sama an idiot?!" The fan-girls shouted.

Rika crossed her arms over her chest as she glared at the fan-girls. "I called him that because I can and he is!" Rika stated.

"So mean," Naruto muttered with anime tears going down his face.

One of the fan-girls was going to say something in Naruto's defense only to be cut off before she could even start by Rika. "Before you say anything you should know that I couldn't care less what a bunch of fan-girls have to say." Rika said indifferently and shocking the fan-girls into silence.

'_That's cold,'_ All' the nonfan-girls thought about Rika's chilly demeanor.

Suddenly Rika's phone went off distracting everyone from the current conversation, and since Henry still had Rika's phone he was the one to answer, "Huh, uh, hello?" He asked.

"This isn't Rika!" Seiko voice said loudly from the phone receiver. "Who are you?! If you have hurt my Granddaughter or Naruto-Kun I assure you, you will regret it!"

Instead of saying and incurring the elder woman's wrath Henry simply handed Rika back her cell phone. "Grandma relax, Naruto and I are fine." The redhead assured her grandmother. "We meet up with a few of our friends and are hanging out in the park." Rika spent the next few minutes assuring her grandmother that everything was okay and that she and Naruto were fine.

'_Who is she to act so familiar with Uzumaki-Sama?!'_ The fan-girls thought to themselves.

"Hey, I don't think we should be out here in the open with Digimon like this," Kenta said.

"Kenta has a point." Naruto started, "But that also reminds me," He continued focusing his attention on Takato, the brunette freezing up at the look Naruto was giving him. "Didn't I say something about keeping the Digimon secret?" The shinobi Tamer asked.

"It wasn't my fault." Takato said in a panic. "Kazu was the one who went and told everyone." He said trying to shift the blame.

"Dude!" Kazu said disbelief in how fast his childhood friend would just give him up like that.

"Is that so," Naruto said turning his head away Takato and towards Kazu, who started to sweat bullets.

"Listen man I didn't mean to tell everyone it kind of just, uh, slipped out." Kazu said hastily.

"Well then are you planning on telling anyone else?" Naruto asked ominously.

"Of course not," Kazu immediately answered.

"Don't worry Uzumaki-Sama," A fan-girl said. "We'll make sure that no one tells anyone else about the Digimon." She promised in hopes of getting in Naruto's good graces, and hopefully something else too.

"Yeah, don't worry Uzumaki-Sama we'll take care of things."

"If Uzumaki-Sama wants it to stay secret then it will!" Two other fan-girls promised.

"Okay, thanks." Naruto said giving them a smile that nearly made them faint, and caused Rika to ground her teeth.

"Come on, we'd better get back to the hideout." Takato said afterwards.

"You mean the shed." Rika corrected the crimson eyed Tamer.

"It's a hide out!" Takato insisted.

"Whatever," Rika replied.

Naruto laughed lightly at the byplay before speaking up. "I can't," He told them. "I'm having some guests over tonight for dinner so I should go get that ready." Naruto said.

"What since when?" Firamon asked.

"Earlier today," Naruto answered.

"Then what about me and Angemon?" The fire lion continued, thinking once more with his stomach.

"I'll get something ready for you and then send you up to the roof." Naruto replied. "Oh, there is going to be a little bit extra because someone else will be eating with you." The cerulean eyed shinobi told his Digimon before turning his attention back to the others. "Anyway I should get going. I'll see you later Ri-Chan." Naruto added in the end and then turned around to leave.

"Fine, see ya later Whiskers." Rika said back, fully aware of the fact that everyone was staring at her.

'_Who is this girl?! And what is she to Uzumaki-Sama?!'_ The fan-girls each demanded in their minds, though the vocabulary some used might have been different.

"I have to get going to." Rika said after Naruto left, and without even waiting for anyone to say anything, turned to leave. "Come on Kyuubimon." She called her partner.

"Hey Takato what's with them?" Kenta asked his friend.

"We're not sure." Takato answered. "Henry and I think they might be dating, but we don't know." He said, not realizing that several fan-girls started planning on ways to get rid of the redhead amethyst eyed Tamer, not that any of their plans would work anyway. "Anyway we should get going to the hideout." Takato continued, "And it is a hideout!" He finished yelling the last part in the direction that Rika had left in.

"No it's not!" Rika's voice came back, causing Takato to grumble.

"Come on Takato." Henry said, giving his friend an amused smile. "Let's get going."

"Yeah, sure," Takato said in a dejected tone of voice, mumbling about how it was a hide out.

* * *

**AN: Okay that's it I can't think of anything else to write so I'm done for now. I won't cover how dinner with the Nonaka's at Naruto's apartment goes just assume that everything went well and everyone enjoyed themselves.**

**I hope that everyone enjoyed my action packed chapter, though I'm not all that confident with fight scenes I hope everyone still liked it. **

**After this I'll be working on Code Geass: Jinchuuriki of the Crimson Knightmare. I don't know how many chapters I will write for that but afterwards I'll be working on Heir of the Crown so chances are that the next time I update this story it will be in the New Year.**

**Anyway please remember to review and let me know what you think.**


	14. Alert

My laptop broke down and I just managed to get a new one, luckily I was able to back everything up before it broke so I'm not starting everything from scratch, so I'll start writing again and posting the next chapter for my fics as soon as possible. I've already started writing the next chapter for my Naruto/Code Geass fic and Naruto/Gosick one, neither is close to finished though and I don't know when they'll be posted. I'll try to get them up as soon as possible but I have life to deal with and my muse isn't the best at times.

I was writing something up for Christmas before my laptop died, but seeing as it is now March I'll just have to wait until next Christmas to get it finished and posted.

On a separate and just as important note.

SOPA has returned, Fanfiction is in danger! Go to

petitions . whitehouse . gov/petition/stop-sopa-2014/q0Vkk0Zr

sign the petition and stop SOPA.


End file.
